Amy's Tears, MB verison
by Alex Warlorn
Summary: Amy's been kicked out by Sega. And she's not the only one. The take other people gave to my story's begining. Ending here.
1. The Stage Is Set

This story was written on www.sonicfoundation.org 's message board along with Razorback Jack, Charles RB, AmyRose, Red Sonic, Sockle, Tei Sama and RamboDJZ. 

Station Square was always quite at night. And tonight was no exception. Cars drove by at a slow place, most going home or to the parking garage underneath Beachside Hotel.   
The Burgershop was always open, no one could tell when someone would come in looking for food. An all night dinner had better business than most thought it would. The place was empty except for two people, Joe, who had worked there at a good salary for years, and the store's only current customer, a pink hedgehog in a red dress on one of the turn seats.   
She wasn't really looking at anything in spit of the fact her eyes were open and looking straight in front of her. Staring into space, she didn't look to good. Her eyes were red and her cheeks stained, it was oblivious she had been crying a short time ago. Her name was Amy Thorn Rose, and she had officially had the worst day of her life.   
The contents of the empty drinks in front of her was building up in her system, but no amount of alcohol could dull this pain. She keep rest her head on the counter but sleep refused to come to her.   
"You ok kid?" Said Joe at last. She looked like had been to hell and back.   
"I am not a kid!" Amy snarled putting both her hands on the table in an attempt to come to eye level with the burger guy. Joe took a step back.   
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, it's just that you look like you - well, you don't look your best."   
Amy then burst into laugher that quickly turned in short lived sobs.   
"Best? Best? I've never given them anything but my best. And what's happened? Every project I've been on has been spat in the face." Sonic CD, her premiere debut, considered a mediocre success, even though Metal Sonic got his show in the same game and the opening and closing music were hits among the fans.   
Sonic R, R is for recycled, because that's what all the sounds are, R is for regerggate because that's what the optimistic hop songs will make you do. She had appeared in that game too, she hadn't even been a track contestant, she had used her go cart, only Robotnic in his hover craft also didn't go on foot in that game. The music had been good! Or at least that's what Amy thought. And to top it off, since it wasn't officially a Sonic Team game, it wasn't being revived with the rest of the series.   
Sonic Adventure, her big break, everyone knew her name after that, she ended up with only three stages, but she end up having some important parts in that game. But next thing she knew, everyone was complaining that there were too MANY characters in the game, and that her stages were stupid, and they instantly linked them to her, she wasn't dumb it was just the stages they gave her, she had to work with what she was given, why couldn't people understand that? And now Sonic Team was saying that Sonic Adventure was no good, no good, just like all the other projects she had worked on with Sonic. Sonic . . . . She loved him. Why couldn't he love her back? Amy realized she was crying again.   
She hoped with Sonic Shuffle that she might get a chance at a big break, but what happened? The game was a big flop. Amy wanted to jump off a cliff. She almost suspected that they made that game just so she could live out her contract so they wouldn't need to put her in the next game.   
Sonic Adventure Two, Light Dark, Future Past, Yig Yang, Original Fake, tenth anniversary special. Big got cut from the roster, Amy didn't think anyone was surprised, Big had to be the least popular character in the game. (she hoped she wasn't it) And fishing wasn't exactly in the style of Sonic the Hedgehog. She thought a lot of people were sad that Gamma bit the dust at the end of Sonic Adventure One, he came back as a secret character in Sonic Shuffle, maybe they were living out his contract too.   
Now Eggman was a playable character to replace Gamma, Amy though she was going to throw up. Eggman as a player character made her head spin. It wasn't right. And the Chao were coming back, but Tikal and Chaos were nowhere in sight. Talk about just dumping them after you use them. She wonder who would give hints in the next game? Or weather they wouldn't be any hints. Or maybe Tikal would keep her old job but not have any part in the story line. And Chaos, she wondered how they would explain the Chao.   
And Tails was coming to the game at least, but most rumors said either as Dark Sonic or as a by standard. No main role or player character part. That sucked.   
Dark Sonic, heh, Amy chuckled dementedly, she thought of all those writer who had written out the positive negative forces of the emeralds out of there fan fictions, and now it was the main plot piece of the second game. Amy couldn't help but laugh at it. So an evil Sonic was a player character too, Metalla must of been fuming by now. As for Silver, well, who knew what he thought if anything.   
Now she was gone, Sonic's maybe, maybe not love interest. She guessed loved interfered with Sonic Team's idea of Sonic. Suddenly Amy shuddered. She remembered Sonic X-Stream was suposity being revived, and that there was new female hedgehog in it. One who had made Amy look liked a dead fish. Amy felt so small, so helpless, so worthless.   
It wasn't a girl they didn't want, it was her they didn't want. She had heard Tails might of been getting a love interest in the form of a bat name Nails, sure it was just a rumor, but it pretty much killed any hope she had for a relationship with the fox kitesune.   
Now here she was, blowing what few savings she had left drowning her sorrows. Maybe she should back to her apartment, sleep a little. As if it would make anything feel better.   
She dug into her pocket and took out her debit card and handed it to Joe who punched up her bill and handed it back to her.   
She got up like a zombie, the alcohol and other junk food she had stuffed into herself still not having the desired effect but actually added to her pain. He walked out of the Burgershop not caring really which what she went, she walk by the Burger Statue without a glance and sat down an an park bench in an island in the middle of the asphalt sea in front of City Hall. Tired, exhausted, hurt, depressed, and her body tempracure lower than it should of been Amy fell into a fitful dreamless sleep. 

About two hours later, she woke up again. A nearby clock struck one. Amy felt very dishelved, and the rudiments of a horrible hangover were forming in her foggy mind. She had to literally haul herself up from her position before she could even continue. 

Her eyesight was blurred. Amy wasn't used to such high amounts of alcohol being in her system. She'd be surprised if she didn't get cirrosis when she got older. She wobbled noticably, and even through her alcoholic haze she felt the pain of falling flat onto the asphalt with a dull thud. A pool of light surrounded her limp yet living body. 

"Amy? What're you doing out so late?" 

She weakly turned her head in the direction of this voice. Her eyes settled upon the shakey shape of something thin and green...when orbs began to form, she recognized him as Vectorman. 

"Oh...hey V." 

"Have you been drinking? You look awful." 

It was true, very much so. Her dress was stained both with alcohol and her own saliva. Her quills were bent into shapes that contradicted her natural style. Her body was nothing more than a damp dishrag, clumsily discarded after ages of use and abuse. 

"I'm...I'm fine, thank you." 

"You sure? You could be in a world of hurt...or worse. Please, let me help you." 

"Uh...o-okay..." 

Vectorman hoisted Amy up from the ground and half-guided, half-carried her with him. A fog was beginning to settle on Station Square, and it was obvious that Amy wasn't going to be able to function properly for much longer. He decided that it would be best to leave her at her apartment and leave a note for her to give him a call when she could. 

He gave a synthesized sigh and looked up into the cloudy sky. The moon still jutted through the mist like a light in a sauna. It was nights like this that made Vectorman wish he were human, not some robot designed to haul trash. 

That was why he liked going to Station Square. The world he knew was depressing, to say the least. Even after defeating Warhead twice, he still shuddered to think of the Earth he had known. But Station Square...here was someplace he could relax, and talk with some friends. 

As he approached the apartment, he began to wonder why Amy was so sullen. Was it some sort of career change? Another social crisis? Whatever the reason, it had to have been serious. Amy wasn't the kind of girl who'd go out and get dead drunk over just any old problem. 

He fumbled the keys he had to the apartment. He made it a point to have the keys to the apartments of his friends, in case of situations like these. Being a robot helped too, but he tried to downplay that. 

After he entered Amy's room, he put Amy down on the floor. By now, she was barely awake, and snoring began to creep into her breathing. Vectorman took it upon himself to tuck her in. Even though he was a robot, the least he could do was act human. And so he put Amy in the bed, pulled the sheets up to her head, and quietly exited the room, turning off the lights as he left... 

When Amy finnaly returned to coniousness it had to be the worest experince in her conious since when was sun light so blinding? It went straight though Amy's eyes and into her brain pircing. She shut them thight trying to sink back into the oblivion she had momentary found. When coming to the painful concusion she wasn't going back to sleep or going to die she tried to get out of bed and her skull was struck down by some invisable hammer that landed her straight back onto the billow, which felt about as soft as lead at the moment.   
She grond, she wondered what that reaking stench of booz was, only to realize it was coming from her. What had see been doing last night? Her memories from the previous evening were in a blur, she remember going into the BurgerShop, and ordering a drink, then another, then another, then things started to get confusing.   
She had a faint impression of a green robot helping her. Zero? Zero was dead, or blown to bit or whatever. No. It was V. Vectorman? She thought Sega had cut him off, like Shinobo. Well, she couldn't get up, and she couldn't go back to sleep, her only opion was to just stay were she was and be missarble. Just great. Her face felt sore. She must of walked into a street lamb or something.   
Her aparment wasn't actully too bad looking, she prouded herself on how good it look, currently unlike it's tendant. True, she hadn't vacummed in a week and the dishes from the last two days were starting to pile up, but she had been busy. Yea right. Being busy commiting slow scicide via bottle. She just couldn't believe Sonic Team had just dumped her, and now Sonic and Tails boths getting new lov intrests? Amy swam in the sea of alhichol in her blood.   
The sun light too bright, a spliting headach, and to top it off the room seemed to be slightly tilted. At least it was better than last night she vagly remember when it had been on it's side. 

Ok, I'm going to do this from Metalla's view for the moment.   
It had been several years since he'd been in a game, and now, once again, they left him out. How dare them! I'm not that evil personally, but at least I had brains, and swiftness to go with it. Every other robot hedghog after him was a fool. They thought nothing but better ways to serve Eggman. In fact, a "robot" like him was rare. He'd never experienced love or joy, no, because of how he looked, people potrayed him as a dangerous monster. Was it his fault that he had a personal grudge against that baka hedgehog? Or was it his own personal jealousy? The only time he'd been in a game was Sonic Adventure, and he was in a glass tube. Ever since Sonic CD, he   
'd only appeared in smaller games. Even ones where the fans actually liked it, he knew it would never see the light of day in this country. Damn Sega bakas. I can't speak my mind because I'm a "robot". In reality, I'm just a red hedgehog with a "fancy" space suit, sorta like that girl Samus Aran. It's so stupid. I'm gradually joining the likes of Bean, Bark, Chaotix, and Amy. Is this what I want for myself? He clenched his teeth in anger, floating along the street, only to see a drunk hedgehog girl. Is that Amy Rose? Imagine that. Guess love can be deadly. Should I save her? She did nearly get me destroyed once. The metallic "robot" stood over her body and watched, debates going on in his head. 

Metalla then saw another robot coming the street. The robot hedghog didn't recognize him at first. Then he saw the green orbes, smooth waking style. Victorman. Hum. Another character sega had dumbed. Metal Sonic was surprised he wasn't dead. Metalla looked at the drunk hedghog half out of coniousness, and at Victor and decided to move on.   
There was always the Radical City and Reactive Factory Race tracks, though they hadn't been repaired in some time and not likly to be repaired any time soon. Metalla knew they were better than nothing. 

As Amy stumbled into her kitchen a frenzy of arguing caused her head to pound even harder. She tried to make out the voices an what they were saying but the searing fires burning inside her skull were too much.   
She heard the last scream of the argument from outside: "AND STAY OUT!" She staggered wearily to the front door and opened it. 

Crumbled on the floor of the hall was a tall, skinny being wearing a flashy purple, white, and yellow suit. His gentle sobs wracked his shoulers as Amy watched him, trying to rub the sleep from her blurred eyes. Slowly, but surely, she remembered her next door neighbor.   
"N...Nights?" She asked, hoarsly. "'S that you, Nights?"   
The once hopeful mascot cast his eyes up on Amy. "Amy? My God, are you alright?!" Nights slowly stood to his feet and walked over to Amy. "You look like hell!"   
Amy groaned in response and leaned against the door frame. "C'mon in." She said. "T-Tell me whu happened."   
Nights accepted and grabbed a single duffle bag on the floor in front of his apartment door, which now had a sign hanging from it which read: EVICTED BY MANAGEMENT.   
As AMy stumbled into the kitchen, Nights relayed his situation.   
"I try and I try and it doesn't mean a damn thing!" He fumed, throwing his duffle bag on the couch. "I had everything Sonic had! The Team, the Artist, the fresh, innovative gameplay! I had it all! I even had a Christmas special. God, I loved that red suit." He looked off for a minute into space before continuing. "But those damn office people at Sega trashed the Saturn. I thought, "It's alright, I'll get a shot at Dreamcast. They'll fit me into a game that's got it all. I'll be the next Sonic. The next Mario. Look, everyone, it's NIGHTS! THe purple moron!" Night cried, stabbing his finger into the air.   
"They cut me from Sonic Adventure 2." Amy slurred. Nights grimaced and nodded. "I know, Amy, I know. They cut me from Sega. I tried to get a job at the circuis, but that damn Dynamite Headdy had the spot I wanted. Remember him? He could...I guess, SHOOT his head at people? What the hell kinda trick is that? I can fly, for God's sake! He's their main event, shooting flying balls out of the air with his head or something. What a joke!"   
"Well, finally my SEGA royalties finally ran out. I can't find work, I can't pay my bills so...they evicted me."   
Amy sighed. She really felt bad for Nights. Poor guy was destined to be the next big mascot. Thanks to Sega, he was now a complete parody of himself.   
She waved her hand at him. "You ccan crash here for a little while, if you want, Nights."   
Nights' eyes lit up. "Amy, are you sure?"   
She nodded wearily.   
"Oh, God, Amy than kyou so much. I promise I won't impose long. I'll get a job and help you with your bills. In fact, I'll go looking for a job today." WIth that, Nights dug a copy of his resume out of his duffel bag and walked out the door in search of work.   
Amy, on the other hand, sagged on the couch hoping for her headache to go away. 

"You still have your gambling wins from the card games at Casinoplious Nights. After all, they use your trade mark. The royailties on that can't of run off already." Commented Amy.   
"Amy, what happened to you last night?" Inquired the dream spirit.   
"One too man drinks I guess."   
"I've never known you to drink."   
"I've never did until last night."   
"I'm sorry."   
"Thanks." Amy gronded again, why couldn't this headach go away, then again, she guessed she deserved it.   
She guessed a lot of has been game characters had started to move to Station Sqaure after it was rebuilt after Perfect Chaos. She then noticed a note on her table. She opened up the small peice of yellow paper read it and threw in the trash. It was from Victorman, as if anything he could do could help her, and she wasn't fond of robots except for Gamma.   
She had heard Big was still in Mistic Ruins Jungle fishing and doing nothing. Then again that's what he did before Sonic Adventure. 'Then again' seemed to be her new catch phrase.   
Ugh, stupid hang over, she doubted she would be able to walk in a straight line for days.   
"Who was the note from?" Asked Nights.   
"Victorman."   
"I thought he was dead."   
"That's what everyone seems to be thinking right now." 

Vectorman was across town from Amy, out near the industrial areas. A robot could tolerate the conditions, and he could find easy factory work. He also volunteered for the reconstruction efforts that were taking place to mend the damage of Perfect Chaos. 

At the moment, he shared an apartment with two other people. Gamma was one of them, having done his fill during Sonic Shuffle. The other...it was someone from the Archie Comic. Lupe was her name, he just now remembered. It was surprising he could think at all, what with Sega's recent problems. 

He now realized that the Dilbert Principle had far reaching effects. Acephalous management techniques must have wormed their way into Sega's corporate structure. And, consequently, into the structures of all of the companies it worked with. 

Things were much harder for him ever since the Genesis went under. Now they were hardly being sold. It made him retch and cry at the same time. He could only hope and pray that he could get a Dreamcast revival before he faded into digital obscurity. 

He sighed. No such luck, he supposed. He had two games, and that was that. No need for a third, the suits reasoned. 

As he entered the apartment, he was greeted by the familiar sight of electronics lying all over the place. It was hard to get replacement parts nowadays, what with the tight job market and all. He found Lupe, toying with what appeared to be some kind of inducement coil. 

"Lupe?" 

"Wha...oh, it's only you. Hello, V." 

"What're you working on?" 

"Just a little pet project. Gamma went down to the scrapyard and found this little deal. Old Wizard 340XG Plasma Coil, I think." 

"Oh, well, that's...nice, I guess..." 

Lupe noticed Vectorman's somewhat sullen attitude and wondered what was going on. V was usually somewhat brighter. 

"What's wrong?" 

"Well...I'm worried about Amy." 

"Amy Thorn Rose?" 

"Yeah, that Amy. Gamma might want to look into this." 

"Why are you so worried? She isn't your concern, she's Gamma's concern." 

"Only because he worked with her during Sonic Adventure. Speaking of which, I heard she got cut out of the sequel." 

"Hard times for us, these are...it's amazing we don't just sink into obscurity just as soon as the games flop." 

Vectorman sighed and gazed off into space. 

"She was dead drunk last night." 

Lupe suddenly stopped fiddling with the coil. She slowly raised her head to look at Vectorman. 

"What?" 

"I found her last night 'round 1:30. She looked like somebody had raped her and thrown her into a dumpster." 

"Boy, she must take these things seriously." 

"I haven't managed to get every detail, but I'm guessing it had to do with all of those financial decisions." 

"Well...even Uncle Yuji can't solve all our problems." 

Uncle Yuji. It was a pet name for the big guy in Sega, the man who had created Sonic the Hedgehog. Yuji Naka was always the creative type, but it seemed he never could regain control over his creations once the corporate bureaucrats got hold of them. 

"Y'think she should go see him?" 

"No...Gamma would understand better. He's been through it before." 

"Maybe I'd better tell him about Amy when he gets back. He would want to know..." 

"I hope so. Otherwise...Amy might tempt death." 

Vectorman didn't quite get the jist of Lupe's phrase, but after a few moments he discovered the meaning. Tempting death...no, she wouldn't as far as that...would she? 

"Sonic . . . . " Amy wishpered to herself forgetting Nights was there and therfore listening to her.   
"Amy." Said Nights. "I don't mean to be rude but, maybe you should just quite casing after him. After all your what? 13 and he's 16?"   
Amy blushed.   
"Actully, he's 24. And I'm 17."   
"What?!"   
"He was 15 when Sonic 1 was done. And I wsa 10 when Sonic CD came out in 1993. Tails is one year older than me." 

While Amy continued talking to Nights, Vectorman checks Amy's apartment... 

Vectorman: Ah, good. No suicidal devices, and Amy's still alive. But I better take the knives from the kitchen... 

Vectorman goes into the kitchen, only to see Tails with a knife at his neck... 

Vectorman (extending his arm to take the knife away): Tails, what do you think you're doing? 

Tails: Ending my miserable life! Sonic Team has yet to put me in SA2, and neither Sega or anyone else can make up their minds! I'm in constant torture! 

Vectorman: Tails, calm down! You should be thankful you have been in two games for Dreamcast! I haven't been used since the Genesis! 

Tails: Sure, but I've never been able to turn Super since the Genesis. 

Vectorman: These are bad times, my friend. 

As Vectorman opened the case he had brought along, Tails sat down on one of the chairs nearby. 

"What're you doin' here, anyway?" 

"I'm checking on Amy. Gamma couldn't come, he had some sort of meeting to attend." 

"Strange...I was thinking about doing that myself. But when I got inside I found a discarded paper..." 

Tails produced the paper, and Vectorman looked at it. What was on the note took him by surprise. 

"'Tails not to be in SA2: Merely a Rumor, or a Sad Precursor of SEGA's Situation?' You mean..." 

"Why do you think I had that knife?" 

Vectorman sighed. It seemed things were getting worse and worse. Was SEGA being eaten alive? Why was it making these irrational decisions? And what could be done? 

"Maybe you should go talk to Amy, Tails...she'd probably want to hear from you. She was dead drunk last night...I just hope she doesn't want to take it a step further..." 

Vectorman then decided to head back to the industrial area and see if Gamma was any more inclined than before to talk with Amy. If one of them fell, the rest would follow. 

*By the Maker...it's amazing we can survive at all...now we're scraping the bottom, fending for ourselves...why?* 

Sonic finnished getting out of the shower. The beached house was at a nice location, and he had to admit, it was nice to be away from everything. He was taking a break from shooting scean from Sonic Adventure Two, and was enjoying the few days off.   
He couldn't of wait to tell Tails he was on the pay roll for Sonic Adventure Two. They hadn't said yet if he was playing another part or was going to be a player character. But it was nice to know his best friend was still on the team. Last he heard Kncukles was benching wieghts. As for Amy, well, bad things happened. But since when did that girl have those sorts of problems? After all. She always only needed a visit to an amusment park to get her back in the right mood.   
She didn't know how to be depressed. Scard, sad, not depressed. 

When Sonic had finished drying himself off, the phone down the hall rang. He dashed to get it, but failed to realize that an end table was in his path. 

After brushing himself off, he limped over to the phone, wincing in pain. He got the phone and tried to apply pressure to one foot. It helped little, and he decided not to try running about the house like that again. 

"Hello, *agh* Sonic here." 

"Sonic? It's Vectorman. You're not gonna like what you're gonna hear..." 

"Whadya mean, V? If it's about Amy, just *ow* take her to an amusement park." 

"Well, uh..." 

"Thought so. Ciao!" 

He hung up the phone, then called 911. The suits weren't going to be pleased that he had broken a leg while on break. He started muttering about insurance premiums as the dial tone bleeped away. 

On the other end of the now ended conversation, Vectorman merely stood, both miffed and shocked. 

*How could Sonic reject her like that? Take her to an amusement park? What good would that do, especially when she's considering suicide?* 

Vectorman sighed and sat down, still clutching the phone. There was one overriding thought in his mind... 

*What is wrong with this picture?* 

Vectorman looked into space, at the apartment to be specific. Gamma was there now, and he'd recommended to try calling Sonic first. He wasn't sure why Gamma had said that, but he tried anyway. 

But it only allied his suspicions that something...he didn't know what...but SOMETHING was dreadfully wrong. 

"Gamma?" 

The robot turned toward him, with a strangely human expression on his face? 

"Yes?" 

"You...you'd better go see Amy yourself. Sonic isn't helping." 

"What did he say?" 

"He recommended I take her to an amusement park." 

"But has that not been proven to work?" 

"Well, no, but..." 

"Then take his suggestion. We all have our own concerns...why not get all the help you can?" 

Now Vectorman KNEW something was wrong. Gamma never acted like that about Amy. It was as if he was intentionally dodging the issue...like he was denying her existence. 

Vectorman turned toward Lupe, who had been sitting there, listening idly the whole time. He indicated Gamma, and she gave a sympathetic nod. Even if they were robots, sometimes they were more human than anyone else. 

Vectorman began wondering how Amy was taking all of the sudden events forced on her...and was inwardly relieved he had taken the knives before... 

Victor rediel Sonic's number at once. Got the busy tone, and tired again and got though.   
"Hello?" Said Sonic over the phone.   
"Sonic, it's me again. Listen you didn't let me finnish. Yes it is about Amy. But listen for one second. Being choped off Sonic Advetnure Two is killing her. I found her last night with more booze in her blood than blood!"   
Sonic yell of surprise and shock damaged Vectorman's audio cencors. 

Tails sighed and looked out the window in Amy's apartment while Gamma and Vectorman were fussing over Sonic's brashness. 

"Sonic never changes," Tails muttered. "He's always gotta hog the spotlight. I mean, I've only starred in two games, and they both sucked...then again, I could be stuck in Luigi's shoes, he's only had ONE crappy game. But even then, nobody knows what it's like to be in MY shoes. Luigi has a large fan-following, like I used to have. Then that pushy echidna, knuckles, came around, and stole my place. If I were as insane as Amy right now, I'd probably go kill them both...but that wouldn't work, would it? Hmmm..." 

Tails sighed again. "This is a cruel, cruel world. I'm supposed to be Sonic's best bud!! And I'm still not even sure if I'm in SA2 yet." 

"Go easy, you kitsune fool," Amy choked. "At least you have a CHANCE, unlike me..." 

Tails turned to face Amy with disgust. "Don't give me that. You're famous for SOMETHING, at least--Sonic's constantly on-again, off-again girl. Me, i can't be in one of those on-off spots. I'm stuck where I am, lucky me." 

Amy broke down into hard sobs again, and instantly Vectorman and Gamma were with her, trying to comfort her. 

"What did you do that for?" Knights demanded of Tails. 

"I think you all know," Tails said, throwing open the window. He wound his twin tails together, and took off out the window to have a few choice words with Sonic... 

Why was he doing this? Sonic thought. This reminded him of that death match where he beat Mario Mario, but the script writer had it so all the Nintendo character rushed to defend him and then all the Sega and Playstation character ran off. Seach! Who was the ideot that thought Sony and Sega would were cospiring against Nintendo? Oh yea, the writer's name was Metal Mario. He wonder if anyone want his e-mail adress.   
Now here he was broken, had told the parametic to never mind, (he knew he was going to get into trouble over THAT one) and now was going with an unset broken leg to Amy's aparment. If someone called Sonic stupid right now, he wouldn't argue the point. Besides Amy was just a friend. Wasn't she? 

"Wow. Now that's just COLD." 

Vectorman's comment pretty much summed up the attitude of everyone there. Amy wasn't JUST Sonic's annoying antagonistic girlfriend. She was much more, everyone knew that. But to be put down so harshly...now that was no way to talk to her. 

"Gamma?" 

"What is it, Vectorman?" 

"I was kinda surprised that you were coming. I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly after NiGHTS gave you that call..." 

"Amy is someone I feel a special bond with. I may have acted indifferent to her earlier, but this is different." 

"I 'spose. Well, who can we call that can comfort Amy any?" 

None of them could think of anyone at the moment. At first they thought maybe they could call Bobbin Threadbare, but since Bobbin was Lucasart property, it would have been near impossible for them to get him to come. 

Besides, he was stuck in the 2D format, while many of the others had gone 3D. Even Guybrush Threepwood went 3D, for Naka's sake! So Bobbin was out. 

"Hmmm...who else could we get?" 

Nothing came out from anyone else's mouth. Vectorman was beginning to have to search through every archival file he could... 

Then came the loadest profanity Vectorman had ever heard, but it was a scream in pain rather than in anger. And it seemed to be coming just outside the door.   
The robot looked though the peak hole, then then swung the door open, it was Sonic. And the first thing on everyone's mind when they saw him was that legs wern't soppost to bend that way. 

"Sweet jeezus..." 

"My visual sensors indicate that the severity of the wound could cause Sonic to lapse into a coma due to blood lose. I doubt that he will be able to stand up much longer." 

And Gamma was quite right. Sonic tumbled to the floor, his eyes starting to roll through his head. 

"I wondered why I heard muffled moans over the line..." 

NiGHTs turned to Amy, who was stunned. Her eyes remained fixated on Sonic's limp form, even as Gamma and Vectorman began to administer first aid. 

"Erm...feel better about yourself, Amy?" 

She turned toward him with an empty gaze. It struck NiGHTs like a cold wind howling through the tree, or something out of a nightmare. She left the room soon after. 

"NiGHTS! You'd better call the hospital. Just how long has he been walking?!" 

"My scans indicate at least two hours. It is possible that the sheer exertion of this task alone triggered this." 

"Sonic, why'd you have to do this?!" 

Amy was wondering the same thing herself right about now. She suddenly realized what everyone was trying to tell her: she was a special person, no matter what the critics said. 

Tails was still flying when he heard the curse, Sonic had used his lungs to their fullest so a good half of Station Square resedental distrect had heard it, including Tails who was on his way TO Sonic's house, only to hear him screaming in the other direction. Tails did an instant u-turn and flew straight back to Amy's aparment, which was becoming a regular bunk house for retired Archie and Sega characters.   
Putting his body to a test he hadn't since that do or die race with Robotnic to that missle had lauched into Station Square during Sonic Adventure, Tails landed his name sakes feeling like lead and a stich in his side. That was when he saw Sonic, and one of his legs bending the wrong way. Tails felt his head spin at the sight.   
"What happened?" He asked sucking wind though it stabbed his lungs to breath.   
"Nice to see you back." Said Vector. "Can you air lift Sonic to Station Square hospital?"   
NiGHTS took a good look at Sonic and Tails.   
"With True Blue's leg not even set or casted and with Rad Orange (nothing rymths with orange so sue me) your only going to make it worse. I better get that 911 call."   
NiGHTS was surprise that the guy he connected to commented on how Sonic had called the very same operator that day and had then a short time later said 'never mind' and was planning on report him for abuse of the phone and emergency treatment service.   
"You can if he servives, now how about that abulance?" Spate NiGHTS.   
"Got it." Was the operator's reply. "Just stay on the line and well send one right over." NiGHTS took a look at look at Sonic and winced, and tought it was a good thing Sonic was unconious. What was he saying?! He heard that someone with a major injuiy being unconious could be the possibly worse thing for them. He was a dream spirit. But what could he do? 

Amy's phone rang. In the middle of chaos, the most simple of things occured.   
Amy picked it up out of habbit listened, and slammed the receiver down. He muttered a few unlady like things under her breath.   
"Who was it?" Tails asked.   
"Nintendoland.com." Amy replied. "They said they wern't doing anymore Sega verus Nintendo death matchs. I guess that thought that having Sonic win and have him be humilated anyway wasenough for them. Did you know that they got Knuckles color wrong and though he was orange? I e-mailed them about it. They thought I was in the first grade! @$*. First grade!?" (note based on real life occurence) 

This was not the time Tails thought he would get a phone call. How they knew where he was he didn't know. But he heard what the Sega top brass had to say. His blue eyes dilated, his face lost all expression. He dropped the phone as if it didn't matter.   
He walked into Amy Kittchen, Vector followed him.   
He was just able to move fast enough. Though he had taken all the knifes out of the kittechen, he had not removed the limited glass wear Amy had. Tails had broken one and was in the process of cutting his wrist, Vector stopped him barly in time.   
"Let me go! I want to do this!"   
"NO you don't!"   
"Yes I do!"   
"What happend?!"   
"Naga called me up. He said I wasn't in SA2 or SA3!!! He said I was scraped at last! He said I was offical terminated!!!!" Tails screamed. "Now let me die! And let Amy die while your at it. We have no home! No place! Where dead already to the world!"   
"You can't believe that." Said Vector. After all this time, he had servived. In spit of everything, he had servived. He was worried Tails and Amy would not be able to. 

"Tails...you're lucky to have what you've got." 

"WHAT?!" 

"Tails, I'm telling you: you've got it better off than I do. I just got a two-game deal, no more. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada. Hell, I don't even have a fan-base!" 

"But...I've been..." 

"Scrapped? Your fans won't care. They won't talk about why you're NOT in SA2 or SA3...at least, not if they want to be positive. They'll still remember fondly your previous works. And you've still got the fanfiction and the fan base. Me, I've got nothing." 

"So why aren't you depressed?" 

"Tails...when you're a robot, you're built so that you can take that kind of punishment on the chin." 

By now Tails had set down the broken glass and was sitting on a stool, ignoring the paramedics who had just arrived. 

"I...I didn't know you had it so bad off. You were the main character even!" 

"Being the main character doesn't guarantee star status. Take the example of Bobbin Threadbare..." 

"Who?" 

"You've never heard of him?" 

"Well...no." 

"He was the lead character of the game Loom. Y'know, the magical adventure game? Made around the same time as Secret of Monkey Island. Even had voices...and what happened? He only made one game, and nothing. He didn't have a fan base, and no way of continuing the story. It just ended. To add insult to injury, Secret of Monkey Island became even more successful than Loom ever was, and it's now going into, what, the fourth installment? Sometimes you get a winner, sometimes you don't." 

Vectorman looked at Tails, who was now a slight bit confused, but no longer quite as depressed. Vectorman was unsure of what to do next. Eventually, he decided on the only thing he could do. 

"Why don't you talk to Amy again. I have to bring Lupe over here...she might have a better time sorting this out." 

As Vectorman exited, Tails went into the living room with Amy. There she was, staring into space. Just minutes earlier she'd been in her room, crying...or had she been talking with Nintendoland? It didn't matter. 

Tails seated himself down next to Amy. She didn't seem to notice. Gamma was also in the room, although he was merely trying to sort everything out. NiGHTS had gone into Amy's guest room to check in. 

Tails was suddenly stricken with a bit of panic. What was he going to say? He anxiously cleared his throat, drawing Amy's attention. Still unsure on what to do, he said what was off the top of his head. 

"I've been scrapped." 

Amy gaped at him, shocked. 

"What?" 

"I said, I've been scrapped. Don't make me say it again." Tails muttered, turning his head away. he put his elbow on the arm of the sofa, and rested his chin in his hand. 

"But why--" 

"They decided the new triple threat was better off with Eggman instead of me...Eggman, ha! He's been the bad guy since day one, and now he's the third of three." 

There was an odd silence between the two. 

"I guess when you've got a blue hedgehog that can run real fast, a super-strong echidna, and a fat demented scientist human, there's Kitsune muyo. No need for a flyin' fox." Tails spat a curse. "I've been with Sonic from almost the start, and now look at me. I'm a freak, a twin-tailed, flying FREAK..." 

Knuckles never knew where he had come from. Though some fan fic writers and Archie had come up with some ideas. Why was he alive? And his entire race dead? He could ask the same of the Chao that were slaughtered by his race just before the seeds of their actions were reaped.   
The lastest theroy on Chao serviving was hidding egg away from the shirne. That made some sense, after all, Chao egg didn't hatch unless actully nutured.   
Chaow, K-O, what diffence did the pronoucation really make?   
The point was that Edcidna were also egg layers, had he been a hidden egg? Somehow kept in supended animation by the power of the master emerald? Until it felt the need for a protector?   
Of course Archie had given him a good origen, but here, in the prime universe, segasonic, Knuckles wondered. He had nothing against Archie, in fact, his comic were better than Sonic's, maybe because they didn't try to fit in as many game elements. But then his comic got cancelled. So be it.   
Julie-Su. His true reason for his attration to the Archie verse, she had orginally been a character in her own comic series, that never made first issue because, believe it or not, Julie-Su was considered to have too much sex apeal. Knuckles couldn't argue there. For him though it was a potivtive thing.   
"Knuckles." Of course, SegaSonic HAD to drop a bomb shell in his lab with someone new to have intrest in. Even though she was 'dead'.   
"Tikal." The edcidna replied looking at the sky unpon Angel Island. He could still remember a short time ago when everyone thought Floating Island was the name of the flying hunk of rock.   
"I guess you heard. They decided on a Chao being the hint giver in SA2 instead of me."   
"Tikal you know I have no athority in that sort of thing. Besides you still have work behind the sceans taking care of all the Chao their using."   
"I know but," The ghost started, "I just feel that I've lost something if I can't be their on screen with them. Knuckles, I was a pure story line character, and now I've been dumped."   
"How's Chaos?"   
"His tail's 'in a knote' and he keep brooding over not having any parts to play this time around."   
"As long as he doesn't go smashing any buildings."   
"They put the emeralds back in the specical zone remember? He can't evolve anymore."   
"Oh yea." 

"Wherever I go, people stare at me. Kids laugh at me and pull my tails. It gloriously sucks. You're lucky...you have some sence of normalcy." Tails muttered with finality. 

"Tails, I--I didn't know you felt that way..." Amy gasped. 

"Well, now you do. I dunno what the hell Vecty was sayin', telling me to talk to you. I just dumped alla my own problems on you. I really suck at this whole emotion thing." 

"Tails..." Amy scooted closer to the kitsune. "We all have to go through some kind of trial-by-fire at some point in our lives. This is ours." 

"Feh." 

Suddenly, Gamma stood up straight, drawing the two anthromorphic's attention to him. They watched him silently, and he at last said, "Tails. I have news..." 

"News? What kind?" 

"Depends on how you look at it." Gamma said, shrugging his robotic shoulders. "Good news is that Naka might NOT have cut you from the team after all. The bad news is, we're back to being unsure of your position in SA2." 

"Jee-sus," Amy whistled. "Look at that, Tails--you still have a shining hope!" 

Tails' expression brightened for a second, and then went hollow again quickly. 

"What's wrong?" Both Gamma and Amy asked. 

"Don't you see? It's all rumors." Tails spat. "It won't happen." 

Tails pushed up from the sofa, and went to the door of Amy's apartment. 

"Where are you going, Tails?" Amy asked, getting off the sofa as well. 

"I have to go talk with a friend," was all Tails said before leaving the apartment, and it's many visitors. 

Tails went into Station Square Central, to take the train back to the Mystic Ruins. It was a boring, uneventful ride, but it gave Tails time to think. 

The train came to a stop at last, and Tails got off, and flew over to his workshop. Once in his room on the top floor (That door's gotta lead to SOMETHING), he took the phone of the reciever and punched in a number. 

The phone rang a few times, and at last, somebody picked up. 

"Yeah, what is it?" a watery voice snapped. 

"Chaos, it's me, Miles." 

"Huh? oh, hi, Tails," the watery voice on the other end, belonging to Chaos, said, softening. "What can I do you for?" 

"Is Tikal there?" Tails asked. 

"No, she went out a while ago, but I'll try to help if you want me too..." 

"Chaos...how do you adapt?" 

"Huh? Well...usually, I adjust my body's properties to become a solid or gas..." 

"No, not to the weather, to life. Like...how do you deal with not being in SA2?" 

"I think," Chaos replied darkly. "That's all I can do, I have no power in this. Tikal, she's all bright and cheery about everything, but far be it from me to take that away from her. She has something that we all have, but she shows it." 

"What is that thing?" Tails asked, desperate for the answer. 

"Hope." 

There was an akward silence between the two, which was broken by Tails, who thanked Chaos, said goodbye, and hung up. 

"Hope..." Tails said quietly, looking out a window. Twilight was upon them now, the sky splattered with pink, purple and orange. 

NiGHTS certainly knew of Tails' conflicting status reports on the Sonic Adventure 2 project. But, in slumber, nothing can trouble you...especially if you've had experience in such a world, as NiGHTS had. But the only thing that can trouble the world of slumber, and that's a dream. 

NiGHTS appeared in a world of pilots, and beautiful skies. NiGHTS gazed up with eyes, not even half awake, and noticed the speed of the planes in the air. Very fast, just like a certain hedgehog he knew. But then, the planes crashed in mid-air, and the sky turned black within minutes. NiGHTS realized that there were shrilled voices in the background, Despite their low volume, they were quite powerful in the way they talked. 

They said..."Giest." 

"Giest Force." uttered a voice from beyond. 

"Who are you?" 

"NiGHTS...hi. I think you remember me..." The dark figure appeared into a slight light from the moon. It was Bug. 

"Bug? Bug! My old friend!" 

"NiGHTS...I'm sure you know of the troubles with Amy, and Tails...there were some shockers here and there while you were asleep, but it's alright and steady now." 

"...I'm awake now?" 

"Not exactly, but you're quite aware, more than you usually are in dreams. NiGHTS, I'm here as an example for you. Amy and Tails need help...please remind them of people like me, and even the unborn ones, like the pilots of Giest Force." 

"Giest Force...yeah, the Dreamcast game that was canceled. It was something I was looking forward to." 

"NiGHTS...even though almost NO ONE knows who I am, and I am forgotten...I'm alive; in the hearts of fans of the Sega Saturn. NiGHTS, no matter what happens to characters like us, we'll LIVE. And as long as we exist, it will be alright. We just need to sleep in catacombs for awhile, but that's alright. Characters like us can do so much more than real people can. Don't you...pity them?" 

"...Yes. I do...sometimes I wish I knew other people who could fly with me. They can in their imaginations, but they can't for real..." 

"But we are what makes an imagination. It's a cycle that...works, NiGHTS. Farewell, my friend. I will arrive to others that need my help..." 

"Thank you, Bug. I appreciate it...you're like a brother to me." Nights started to tear a bit... 

"NiGHTS...it's best you think about people like you, people like me, and people like the Geist Force. And be sure to tell that to Tails and Amy too, okay? I don't know if I can make it to them in time...bye." And then, Bug faded away... 

NiGHTS found a rock to sit on, in this dark world that is the grave of Giest Force. 

Deep within the bowels of the sewers beneath Amy's apartment, a troop of camoflauged men walked in silence. Unknown to anyone except a select few, these men crept through the dimly-lit chasms and catacombs of the sewers. 

They were sent by an unlikely source...the executives at SEGA. They were getting rid of "excess" material. And they were starting at the top... 

Their objective: capture and execute Amy Rose before she grew revolutionary. 

Twelve men had gone into the sewers, and twelve men would leave...with a thirteenth in a body bag. 

The twelve men sneaked into the upper areas of the apartment, waiting for the SEGA characters to leave. Then they headed upstairs, looking for their primary target. 

Nights headed out of the grave of Geist Force and headed back to Amy's apartment.   
" I wonder how she's doing." he said to himself 

Little did he know the battle that would occur. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------   


End Page One of Four 

Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome. Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too.   
  



	2. The Cast Is Assembled

Other authors include RamboDJZ, Razorback Jack, Tei Sama, Clairle(sp) RB Rocket Boy 

Ayane side glaced at her half-sister Kasami. She and Ayane were far from loving siblings. When Kasami had let their clan in search of Hayate in the Dead or Alive torenment, it had been Ayane's task to eleminate the run away. Ayane thought she had succed. How was she soppost to know the Kasami she had killed in the snow covered mountains was a clone? Now that the real Kasumi has returned after finding Hayate, the mark on Ayane's half sister was removed. Ayane was not happy oh how she want to prove Kasumi, the REAL Kasumi which of them was the better fighter, well, a Ninja had to be patent, she could wait till the next Dead or Alive torenament.   
She looked to her left and saw Helena, out of place without her fancy cloths, but when the Super Human project Elispon had failed, her family market shares fell though with it, a woman like Helena had to keep a certain standard, and theough the Dead or Alive Torament was not sponsored alone by sega, they had offered a hansome sum for Amy Rose's death. Ayane only wished it was a more challenging mark.   
Kasumi hated it, but she had gone along because the clan had said so, because the clan had excepted the job, and Kasumi wasn't ready to be marked for death again by her own relavtive so soon after coming back alive.   
Three of the remaining five were shadow ninjas of the Shinbo games of the Genesis, they didn't speak or think, only act.   
Hayabusa was of course part of the ground and the super ninja lead on , Leon would of been hired if they could of found them, but the mercany was hard to track down.   
Tina and Bass Zack were enjoying the stardom that came from serviving the dead or alive torament. They had no need to do this kind of ugly work.   
That old man, whoever he was, was happy to have his granddaughter Mailin alive, he had no more intrest in fighting.   
Ein/Hayate was still sorting out his memories, and his emotiones for Ayane. Beside all the clan's best fight wern't except to be on one mission.   
Then their was Shinobo the Shinono of the games of the same name of the Gensis. Ayana so dearly wanted to fight him, but his magic teachquies were dangerous and thus made it unlikly for a fair fight.   
Jann Lee and Leifang were both back at collage believe it or not. Jann Lee couldn't believe a woman had beat him. Maybe a burise to his ego was what he needed. Leifang had done what she had wanted to do. Prove how good a fighter she was.   
So here she was Ayane, perhape one of the ten most deadly assasin in the Nintendo, Sega, Sony game domains, and was about kill a kid for momeny, no because her clan said so. So be it. She wasn't Kasumi. She did what she was told. 

"It's a bultiful sun set isn't it?" Asked Tikal.   
"For you most than likly. Having your soul in the Master Emerald must of not been the most sweet of experinces."   
"My mind wasn't conious most of the time, I felt destrubances, like the time Robotnic stole the master emerald to power the Death Egg."   
"How did you . . . "   
"Did you think I've spent my entire time just walking around her doing nothing? I felt a distruption of the master emerald a few years ago that allowed Chaos to escape after he pressed the weakness enough, I asked around and found out about that one time. When the master emerald was still in hidden palace."   
"So that's how Chaos escape."   
"Guess you could say SA was set in place during Sonic & Knuckles."   
Kasumi just zoned in on Amy's apartment. She and Shinobi made their descent into the apartment, shattering glass windows very quietly. However, Amy and Tails were gone...Hayabusa and Ayane walked in after the windows had been broken through a steep ledge. The shadow ninjas just appeared. 

"I can't do this." Kasumi sat on the floor, with an unusual high of audacity induced by thoughts of killing...a child. 

"We know you can't," said Hayabusa who put his arm on her shoulder. 

"We wanted to know just where you drew the line between clan...and honor." Joe Shinobi put his sword away. 

"Hey, waitaminute, how come I wasn't told that we weren't gonna kill her?!" Ayane was a bit angry, but a bit relieved as well. 

"I contacted someone from the other plane...he told Amy and Tails to leave before we got here." Shinobi looked at the shadow ninjas, who disappeared in a flash, understanding that they were only assistants in a test for Kasumi. 

"I'll deal with your clan later...but as for now, you'll be safe until you're ready." Hayabusa got up, and talked with Shinobi a little. 

"So, relieved we AREN'T gonna kill a kid?" Ayane gave Kasumi a nudge. 

"How can you ask something like that?" She finally got up, and left the apartment with her friends... 

NiGHTS woke up from his dream of the Geist Force grave, and finally returned to Amy's apartment. He noticed that the television set had been in snow for a while...NiGHTS walked out of Amy's guest room, and discovered broken glass everywhere. 

"What happened here?" NiGHTS noticed that everyone was gone. 

"Oh no..." NiGHTS definitely knew something was wrong...either that, or someone just didn't tell him that Amy and Tails left. Who'd forget that NiGHTS is sleeping in your guest room? But when you got the type of message that you're going to die unless you leave immediately, you don't really think about others. 

Suddenly, a large purple glow appeared in front of NiGHTS. 

"Amy and Tails were given knowledge of their coming deaths, and prevented them. Now, I will have you in their place!" 

"Oh my God..." NiGHTS paced back slowly, as he couldn't believe who he saw...his eyes widened with the complete audacity of such a force... 

The Eternal Champion. 

Sonic was banged up pretty bad. Who'd he get here, in this hospital?...Sonic was unconscious. Then, in some sort of dreamland luck, Sonic was able to reorganize his thoughts together. Sonic started to remember what happened to his leg... 

Sonic was in an area of his mind...a big black room with a single spotlight. 

"Ow." 

Sonic was able to feel his leg. Broken...   
Speed goes before a fall. 

"Geez. How'd it happen?" 

And, appearing out of the dark and into the spotlight, is Bug. 

"Hey Sonic." 

"Bug? Geez man, how are ya?" 

"Fine man, but I'm more or less a spirit animal nowadays...You know what I just did? I saved your buddies' lives...man, Amy and Tails were SO gonna die." 

"WHAT?!" 

"Don't worry, they're safe. ... I dunno about NiGHTS though." 

"NiGHTS?!" 

"He'll be fine, but enough of that for now. Your friends, Amy and Tails...they were thinking of killing themselves. 

"Oh geez...I know. They aren't in Sonic Adventure 2, right?" 

"That's right." 

"I can't believe this. This...this can't be my fault." 

Bug turned his back, and turned his head towards Sonic. 

"It's not, but I'd just like to leave you something." 

"What?" 

"You better appreciate your revival over that last year." 

"Yeah, I do, man. I don't know what I could do for Amy and Tails, though." 

So, Bug faced Sonic again, with a cigar in his hand now. 

"Give 'em a high note. They might even get a spinoff game." 

"Yeah, Tails had a few of those...Bu-bu-but what about NiGHTS?!" 

"NiGHTS?...Oh yeah, the battle with the Eternal Champion..." 

"ETERNAL CHAMPION?! Buddy, this is overwhelming for a guy just banged up his leg and became semi-conscious." 

"Don't worry Sonic, you'll be alright...Uh, make sure not to do that again. If players tripped themselves playing as you, you'll get more criticism than Big." 

"How's Big?" 

"He has some land in Florida. Heh. By the way Sonic, tell NiGHTS 'Hi.'" 

"Sure thing." 

And Sonic went back to unconsciousness. 

But NiGHTS... 

The Eternal Champion flew into the air, above the apartments. He moved the buildings in Station Square away from the mainland...the buildings were now floating on water; even Joe's workplace. 

NiGHTS realized he had to take on this monster all by himself... 

"NiGHTS!" 

It was Gamma and Vectorman! 

Well, three on one... 

But it'd still be hard. 

Miles away from the battle, deep within the seclusion of a place only a select few had ever entered... 

A man, wearing what appears to be a business suit, glared at a screen. The Eternal Champion was now fighting against three has-been heroes. This would be interesting. 

"So, the chips are down, are they? It's a pity the assassins did not do their jobs...but if they will not do their job...perhaps my new lackey will..." 

The man turned around, toward what appeared to be somebody in a kind of red body armor. The man wore an unseen smile. 

"You have an opportunity here...I can assure you, I will do my best to convince the heads of Origin to make a third game with you." 

"They'd better. I was getting tired of havin' to skim the Classifieds for work. Question is, what d'ya want me to do?" 

"It's simple, Silencer...all you do is find Amy Rose and Miles 'Tails' Prower, and kill them. Use whatever weapon you like, just be sure to bring the corpses...or what's left of them...to me." 

"Sir...you've got yourself a deal. 'Bout time I went back to the battlefield...ever since the last 'Crusader' title, things have been kinda slow..." 

"Just do your job, Silencer. Or YOU will be the one silenced. Understand?" 

"Certainly...by the way, how's the BA project goin'?" 

"It's ahead of schedule, if you must know...now, go. Do not waste time, or otherwise..." 

"Yea yea, I get the picture. Just be sure the reward gets through, alright?" 

As the Silencer left, equipped with the best equipment possible, the man turned back to the display. 

"Soon...soon, I will have my revenge on them all..." 

"I can't believe this." Ayan said looking the super ninja in the eye. "I have been draged on his flight of fanacy to test her? HER? I should of killed her when I had the chance."   
"You thought you did remember?" The man who had killed Tengu responced. "When you killed Kasumi Beta you thought it was your sister."   
"Half-sister."   
"Why Ayan? Why is it so important you kill her?"   
"The clan is a fool to except her back. She is a tratior."   
"Do you presume to question the clan's decisions?"   
She started.   
"No-no of course not."   
Gamma and Nights were in the lead. EC was waiting, probably for them, on the rooftop of a tall building. Vecty was trailing rather far behind. 

"I can probably get off a couple shots," Gamma muttered, taking careful aim with his tri-barrel cannon. He locked on and fired at the EC. He blocked all three shots with his forearms. Nights and Gamma landed on the other side of the rooftop. Gamma charged first, leading with his other hand. EC catches it, though, and rips Gamma's entire arm off, and hits him sideways with it. He discards Gamma's arm. 

Nights is next. He scowls at EC, and flies at him. 

Nights did a quick circle around The Eturnal Campion, but the kee engery being knew this attack and his leaped out of the lassos of star light just before it closed around him and the rift out this reality opened for a swift moment.   
"Why are you fighting us? Arn't we all part of Sega?" Nights demanded.   
"I am the balancing force of this universe, and death is part of the balancing force, Amy Rose and Miles Prower are disgaurded waste, and waste must be eleminated."   
"Is this fate of all fictional characters? To be used and if not to die in life to die a slow death of none existance when the life thread of real people's belief in them is cut off?"   
"So be it."   
"Champion, Sega has kept you around only for this. Do you intent to except fate and allow yourself to cease to exist when your no longer needed?"   
"If that is what they decide then so be it. I am only a tool in the grand sceam of things."   
Nights tried to grap the champion but the warrior went etheral, true NiGHTS himself was only a spirit but the Champion was versed in such things and the dream spirit's limbs went though the Champion's body, NiGHTS flew farther away from him and faster than he thought possible excet during that final battle with Wise Man.   
"We ceased being tools years ago, the moment people became disatisfied with mindless point fanking and wanted story to go along with that point ranking the story slowly became more and more important.   
Why else have stories now sprouted up about us that will never sell in the form of fan fictions? Because people believe in us. Admire us. Other may laugh and mock at such things, but I see it as noble, writers never write for money to begin with. All things are inspired by something. I think fan fictions are the ultimate evelotion of our world."   
"Paradoies, stupid fics, profanities, bad comdies that can't go five paragraphs without someone meantioning either bathroom humor, homosexial suggestions, bloodly violence and sexiual mindlessness."   
"Not all. Not all. I cry every time I find one of those worlds. But the diamonds in the ruff exist. And each one is as bultiful than the last."   
"The fact remains, the will of our corprate makers is law. And it is their will that Amy Rose and Milse Prower die."   
"And the fact remains, no matter what happens, you can't kill a character by just taking them out of the game. Also, Sega doesn't own us, we are the property of those whose imagination brought us into being. They gave us lives of our own. Not Sega. . . ." 

While NiGHTS was pre-occupied being chased around Station Square by EC, Vecty attended to the damaged Gamma. 

"Hey, I saw a clip of you in Sonic Shuffle on the way here," Vecty muttered to Gamma as he worked to re-attach Gamma's arm. "Your victory pose for the minigames is lacking that famous shot at the end." 

"It was for the kids," Gamma said. "Shuffle was aimed at a somewhat younger audience, and Segsy didn't want it to seem like I was some kind of gun freak, what with the whole school shooting theme America has going..." 

Meanwhile... 

Tails sat alone in his room, there was a sinking feeling in his stomach...something was wrong, and he wasn't where he should be... 

Tails pushed himself up off his bed, and left his workshop. He flew over to the train and once again got on, and waited for it to head back to Station Square. 

Back at Station Square... 

"Don't you realize you're making a mistake?" NiGHTS screamed at EC. He was flying backwards, dodging left and right as EC tried to score a hit on him. EC's foot caught on a corner of a building, and, seeing his opening, NiGHTS jumps in and begins pummelling EC. 

"I--do--not--make--mistakes!" EC yelled, pushing NiGHTS away and attempting a spinning heal kick that NiGHTS ducked. 

"You cannot kill what we are!" NiGHTS continued, using an energy attack to stall EC. "Sure you may kill our bodies, but you can never kill our souls! Tails, Amy, Bug, Vectorman, Gamma, myself, you, one day, even Sonic and Knuckles themselves will be dead physically, but we will still live on because the fans are truly what make us be!" 

"The...fans?" EC paused for a moment, in which NiGHTS punched him in the gut. 

"Yes, the fans..." NiGHTS repeated. "Without the fans, we'd be nothing!" 

"I...am an assassin...hired by Sega...to kill...Prower and Rose..." EC wheezed. "I...refuse to...believe the words...of a dead character!" 

*Sweat drops*.... 

NiGHTS stood over the fallen EC. EC was close to dead by now, languishing from the attack. He choked on his own blood, while NiGHTS began to look for Vectorman and Gamma. 

But EC had an ace in the hole... 

"You...cannot...defeat us..." 

As EC gave off a final gasp, lasers suddenly started flying at NiGHTS. NiGHTS managed to dodge a number of them, but finally one connected, knocking him out of the air. 

The Silencer had stopped by this area because of the battle overhead. When he discovered the Eternal Champion dead on the floor, he decided to dish out some serious payback. Besides, if he managed to off EC's killers, he'd get EC's pay added to his own. 

The Silencer switched to his rocket launcher, and began firing a spread stream of rockets at NiGHTS. The explosions ripped through a nearby building, and kicked up copious amounts of dust and chips of cement and mortar. 

*Man, there's no WAY that guy could survive! Well, nothing like being thorough...* 

He then spotted something green off in the distance. Unless it was someone donning a green Silencer suit for Christmas, it meant trouble. He ducked into the sewers from which he had come, and started to stalk toward his primary objective, hopeful that no one would follow him... 

Eturnal Chapion reformed, he was pure Kee, he didn't have blood or bone, he was pure white engery(unless he changed shape) in the form of a humaniod. He cloths moved by their own accord looking like they were being doned by the invisable man, and then the Eturnal Chapion reformed.   


"AMY!" Tails was suddenly filled with more paranoia than could ever be health that guy had said that someone was out to kill them. Tails had to take no chances and make sure Amy was all right. 

~So that is where they are.~ The eturnal chapion's voice was in reality many all collected from preiouvs fighting masters. THe being of Kee engery flashed and was gone. It didn't NiGHT much to fight out where. 

Tails as he existed the train station heard something behind him, he turned at what sound like a entire crowd whispering, but found nothing. He was worrying too much. He existed the station. 

Knuckles and Tikal could see the battle. They would've helped but the opponent   
was Eternal Champion... Nothing they could do would beat HIM.   
" Uhhh... "   
Knuckles tensed, spinning round to the source of the noise. " Who's there?   
"   
And Yuji Naka fell out of the shadows, bloodied and broken.   
" UNCLE YUJI! "   
Tikal knelt by him, inspecting his wounds. " My God... who did this to you?   
"   
Yuji struggled to sit up. " I...got..too close... he had to take me out...   
"   
" Who did? " said Knuckles. There was a cold look in his eyes. " Who tried   
to kill you? "   
" Not sure... All I know is... he's a *cough* Sega director. On management...   
He's trying to streamline the company, thinks that will keep the Dreamcast going...   
And he's trying to get...rid of our old characters...to do it... "   
" It can't be! Sega wouldn't allow this! It'd be like selling them to Sony!   
"   
" They don't know... several of the higher-ups...on his side... You have to   
stop him! Before he get's...Amy... "   
He fell unconscious. Tikal checked his pulse, his wounds, whatever... He wasn't   
dead, and he never would be! Their creator couldn't die... He was the creator!   
Deathless! Right?   
" Tikal! You have to get him to a doctors! "   
" But what are you going to do? "   
" I'm going to help the others. " Knuckles clenched his fist and smacked it   
into the palm of his hand. " I'm going to make whoever did thsi to Yuji PAY...   
Once you've got him help, then call up Chaos, Void, Metallix... The old gang.   
Then we go and find this Director guy... and show him the error of his ways!   
"   
"Damnit damnit damnit...Amy, where are you..." Tails muttered, looking back and forth frantically--so frantically that he bumped headlong into Knuckles! Both furries fell backwards onto their keisters. 

"Knux!" Tails cried, standing up quickly. "Have you seen Amy?" 

"look, forget Amy for now," Knux said, standing up also. "Do you have ANY clue as to what just happened?" 

"If it's more important than Amy, then no, I don't have a damned clue." 

"Naka-san just got attacked by a Sega producer," Knuckles breathed quickly. "Tikal took him to the hospital, and Void, Chaos and Metallix are on their way to help me out. You coming?" 

"...No." Tails said after much thought. "But I have some connections of my own, they'll help you out." 

----------- 

Tails stood at a station square payphone, Knux practically hovering over his shoulder. A few minutes later, Tails hung up. 

"Well?" Knux demanded, placing his fists on his hips. 

"You know The GG's from Jet Grind Radio? And the Powerstone 2 guys? I called them up, they're coming to help out." Tails looked at Knux. "They're new blood, but they're trustworthy. I'll need some of them to come with me to find Amy, though." 

"Right," Knux nodded. 

------------- 

It wasn't long. Metallix, Void and Chaos showed up first. The train pulled into station square soon after, and a busload of fighters and rudies piled out. 

Beat, Gum, Tab, Garam, Mew, Yo-Yo, Combo and a Noise Tank from Jet Grind Radio; Falcon, Gunrock, Ayame, Accel, Pride, Jack, Ryoma and Pete from Powerstone 2. 

"The cavalry is here!" Beat shouted, dancing to the music blasting from Combo's boombox. 

" All right people! " said Knuckles. " This is an emergency! Some of the lesser characters from Sega games are under attack from some executive creep. He tried to kill Yuji Naka when he got too close. "   
" You're kidding! " It was Ayame. " Naka-san's been attacked?! Why would Sega do that? "   
" I don't know! I think it's either one or a group of directors who think it's best for the company.We have to locate them and stop their evil before someone DIES. "   
" Too late... "   
The voice was cold and dead. And...like Knuckles?   
Knux scowled. " Robo Knux... "   
The Mecha stepped forward, knuckle-spears raised in their firing position. He took aim at Knuckles. " You will NOT interfere with the Waste Disposal. "   
" YOU'RE SIDING WITH THIS DIRECTOR GUY?! " Ayame pulled oput her shruiken. " You're a little used character yourself...what makes you think YOU won't be deleted? "   
Robo Knux's eyes glowed yellow; a sign of his glee. " He has promised me a part in a new game...IF I take out those who would oppose him! You may have a fanbase Knuckles but you can still be canned. "   
He fired!   
SHK-OOM! 

End of Page Two of Four 

Flames, comments, suggestions, reviews good or bad, reactions, occasional constructive critizem all welcome. 

Read ya. 


	3. The music in play

You know the drill by now, thank you to everyone else who wrote this (and much more than me) and this was made on fanfiction.net, so let's get the show on the road. 

Charles RB 

" ARRRRGH! "   
" Hey! " said Jack. " I'M the killer 'round here! Nobody tries to kill character's bu- "   
THWACK!   
Robo Knux punched Jack and sent him flying through a nearby shop window! Ayame threw her shruiken but the Mecha caught it, and fired on her. Falcon growled and began to charge up his Rampaging Super Being form...   
" BACK DOWN ROBO! "   
Metallix stepped forward's, his eyes glowing. The death ray in his chest was charing up; his electric shield was activated; and his eyes...   
Metallix was more than a robotic clone of Sonic. He had intelligence, feelings, thoughts... He wasn't alive but he did have a "soul". And, like all intelligent things, he suffered from anger and fear. Fear that Robo Knux had been planned to be a replacement for him. Anger that Robo knux had been a better racer in Sonic R than he was. But now...   
Now anger could be seen clearly in Metallix's dead eyes. It RADIATED off him.   
" Face ME Robo. Unless you are too scared to face a SUPERIOR Mecha-clone. "   
Robo Knux clenched his fist. " Never. "   
And he charged... 

KRRRRRRRRRRRRAKOMMM!   
The shockwave of Robo Knux hitting Metallix's shield echoed throughout Station Square. Every window nearby was completely shattered. EveryONE nearby was thrown back.   
The robots didn't care. They just wanted each other dead. No matter what the cost. 

And at the hospital...   
Yuji Naka was in intensive care. Tikal and the Chao watched over him. She looked down at him sadly.   
_ All you wanted to do was give us life... And now..._   
Naka stirred. " Uhh... Tikal? "   
" Naka-san! Are you all right? "   
" I've had better days. Have...have you found Amy and the others at risk? NiGHTS? "   
Tikal shook her head. " I don't know where NiGHTS and Amy are. Tails is with Knuckles, trying to rally a group together. "   
He reached out and grabbe her. " YOU HAVE TO FIND THEM! They are marke dfor death! They...musn't...die... "   
And he fell unconscious again. 

NiGHTS was still alive. No conventional weapon could kill a dream spirit. But it could kill his friends.   
NiGHTS flew as fast as he could, hoping to find Amy and the others. If he didn't...   
A sewer manhole below him opened as Silencer came out. He was talking to someone on a radio. He nodded and pulled out his gun.   
" Silencer? "   
The mercenary looked up and grinned. " Ah, you've come back. Good; I've been ordered to make sure you're dead this time! "   
BUDDA BUDDA   
NiGHTS avoided the shots with ease!   
" Face it... You're out of practise. You can't hit me! "   
Silencer re-loaded his gun. He'd fired rockets out the Nightopian and he'd survive. His chances of actually capping NiGHTS where slightly better than a snowballs chance in Hell.   
But that was the plan.   
" Stop right there! "   
Vectorman and Gamma had arrived. Gamma targeted Silencer with ease.   
" You must cease trying to kill NiGHTS. Or else we will use lethal force. "   
Sliencer tried not to grin. _ Fools! While I keep them occupied, Eternal Champion and Robo knux will waste those revolutionaries! Then all we have to do is locate Amy and the job is complete. And I get to charge extra for this too._   
" I AM lethal force, bot! Let's see what you can do! " 

Tei Sama 

"We have to get out of here before they destroy us!" Void yelled, in reference to the mighty-strong fight between Metallix and Robo Knux. He opened a Void Warp (the kind you visit to steal a powerstone from somebody in Sonic Shuffle) and the other characters spilled inside. The portal closed, leaving the two robots and Void alone. 

"I won't interfere with Metallix' personal score to settle with Robo Knux," Void muttered. "But I need to contain this fight, or else they'll tear Station Square apart...as if we don't have enough to worry about!" 

----------- 

Void's space spat out half of the revolutionaries onto the hard, cold metal of the crash-landed Egg-Carrier before landing. 

Tails stood up, and looked around. He, Jack, Ayame, Gunrock, Pete...Tab, Mew, Garam, Combo... 

"Where'd all the others go??" Tails yelled at last. 

"Yo! This is the Egg Carrier! Phat!!" Tab yelled, skating around the vast deck. 

Mew sighed. "You're an idiot, Tab." 

Tab ignored her and proceded to tag his name on the back of one of the Egg Carrier's cannons. 

Jack looked around and hissed. "This place reeks of little girl...makes me thirst for blood!" 

Combo smacked Jack on the back of the head. "Don' even think 'bout it. Chances are, that's probably Amy!" 

Tails ignored all of this. Amy was here, good...he looked up to the sky, and wondered where Knuckles and the others had disapeared to. 

-------- 

Knux and the rest of the revolutionists appeared in the Mystic Ruins. The place was exactly like Knux last remembered it... 

"Damn. The others've disapeared," he muttered under his breath. "Falcon!" 

"Right," Falcon nodded, and used his double-jump to jump to the roof of the train station, and looked around. "I can't see 'em! They musta gone somewhere else!" 

"Damn," Knuckles muttered again. "Okay, come down...we're here for a reason, so we might as well find out..." 

Charles RB 

" This is dull... " said Jack. " How come Metallix is getting all the fun and we get stuck on this place WITH NO-ONE TO KILL?! "   
KRA-KOOOM!   
The Eternal Champion erupted form under them, scattering them across the deck.   
" So! Some of the waste has made its way here! I'll destroy you, then that girl... "   
" DREAM ON! " Ayame jumped in front of him, shruiken raised, transforming into Rampaging Super Being... " You're getting Amy over our dead bodies! "   
" Mmmm...dead... "   
" Shut up and fight, Jack! " 

The executive grinned. He never dreamed things would go so well... Metallix and Robo Knux had trashed the block they were in and wre no duking it out at the Speed Highway. Void seemed to be trying to save bystanders and contain the damage, but it was to no avail. This damage, added to the gunfight between Sliencer and Gamma/Vectorman, had caused the police to mobilise against all the " terrorists ",as they thought the Sega characters were. And they had orders to shoot on sight. And, unlike the staged fight in SA, they had weapons that could cause the Waste Characters damage. And the executive was very happy to give them a list of all terrorists...   
" Soon, waste... " 

Tei Sama 

Eternal Champion, a fighting warrior made of pure ki. Versus four fighters, for kids on rollerblades, and a two-tailed fox. 

"You guys get out of here!" Gunrock yelled to the GG's and Tails. "This guy's ours." He powered up to his RSB form, and hurled large boulders at EC. 

"We're gone!" Mew yelled, grabbing Tails and skating away with the other GG's, except Tab, who was still tagging the cannon. 

The other three GG's and Tails, meanwhile, went up a large ramp, and across another deck. 

"There," Tails gasped, pointing at the golden eggpod that would bring them below decks. "Ten bucks says Amy's down there!" 

"But she could also be in the pool," Garam pointed out. 

"Go there, then!" Tails called, hopping into the eggpod. Mew joined him, and Combo led Garam into the pool room. The Eggpod sunk below the deck, splitting the teams up even more. 

-------- 

"Kill, kill, kill!!" Jack screamed, slashing at Eternal Champion. he cackled insanely, but EC knocked him backwards into Tab. Ayame came in and hurled a cluster of surikens at EC, at the same time Gunrock hurled a large quantity of boulders at him. EC dodged, and the attacks disintegrated each other. 

EC appeared behind Pete, who wirled around and nailed him with a lazer blast. EC absorbed the attack and fired it back at the robot. 

"Unh!" Pete grunted, falling back. Jack was up again, and he jumped into the air. 

"WASABIIII!" He screamed. A ring of energy surrounded him, and he fired glowing spikes at EC. EC again avoided the attack, but Jack landed next to him, and pulled off his other special attack. Extending his arms out to full length, Jack began to spun around, the propulsion carrying him skyward. EC was taken also, getting hit again and again by Jack's attack. EC fell to the deck, and Tab rolled up to him and spraypainted his name on EC's chest. Angry, EC knocked Tab into the water. 

"THIS ISN'T PHAAAT!!!" He yelled before impact. 

EC panted. 'these guys are tougher than I thought...I'll have to be more cautious.'   
------------------------------------------------------------------------   


Charles RB 

" AMY?! " cried out Tails. " Are you there?! "   
" Go away... "   
It was Amy, curled in a fetal position. Presumably, since Amy was supposed to be OFF drink now... She looked worse than ever. Her quills were drooping, her fur was on edge and was a sickly white colour, her breathing was ragged and her face...   
" AMY! What happened to you? "   
She curled up further and tried to shrink into the corner. Tails stayed where he was; a sudden movemnet might frighten her.   
" Amy, what's going on? Is it about SA2? "   
Amy shook her head. " Doesn't matter... Nothing matters. I don't matter. I should've killed myself when I had the chance. "   
" Amy, NO! Don't talk like that! " The young fox took a step towards her. " You can't want to die- "   
" Why not? " Her voice was ragged and dead. She stared up at him. " My only purpose of being was to be a hostage... To be Sonic's annoyance... Sonic the Fighters was a big shot at success and it never was domestically released. I was a joke in Sonic R. People hated my game in Adventure. Archie Comics paints me as a whiney brat and Fleetway portrayal of me is stuck in reprint now. Nobody cares about me... I've been cut from the games that I exist to star in...I have nothing! I AM NOTHING! "   
" Amy... People DO care. I care. " Tails' voice was soft and sincere. He moved closer to her. He could see it; a mark where someone had injected her with a depression drug. He shook his head. " Amy, they've pumped you full of something. This is just a drug talking; not the kind and brave girl I know. So you're not in SA2? Me neither; I got over it, because I know I have fans and that Sega will one day put me in a game again! And the same will happen to you! "   
He held his hand out. " Please... Don't give into your despair. " 

(Hey, we were straying too much from the original premise, so i'm bringing it back! Plus, this gives us some much-loved drama and mushy stuff!) 

" Oh, we'll think of something; We always do! "   
Sonic, Sonic the Comic 179 and 184 

Sonic and Bug were talking. Well, not in the REAl world, where Sonic is in his room; but the Immateria, the world of draems, imagination and thought. They knew little of the battle except for the fact that Tails and Amy was in danger.   
" I have to help! "   
" Sonic, what are you gonna do? Throw your broken leg at EC? "   
" Well he can't hurt ME! I'm a franchise and a Sega mai- "   
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ   
And then Bug and Sonic were in the Real World again. Surrounded by armed policemen.   
" Neural Interferer worked, sarge! "   
" Good! BUG! You're under arrest! "   
" Say WHAT?! " said Sonic. " What did he DO? He's just a spirit guide! "   
" More than that. " The sargent smirked and pointed his gun at Bug. " We have recieved information that he's a terrorist. Two of his band are trashing Speed Highway right now, and we're not having anymore! "   
Sonic stood up, or tried to. " You're taking him over my de- "   
" No Sonic. They're the law. They will realise their mistake soon, but I will co-operate until then. " Bug raised his hands. " I'll come quietly. " 

KRRRRRRRRRASHABOOM!   
Metallix and Robo Knux had messed up the traffic on Speed Highway and were now engaged in a fistfight at the helicopter pad from SA.   
" DIE DIE DIE! "   
" Not to YOU, Metallix! "   
Void flew out of a building, carrying a small child. The room she was in had been hit by a stray death ray from Robo Knux. Her parents had already managed to evacuate.   
" IDIOTS! Your battle is hurting innocent people! Someone's going to DIE soon! "   
" Yeah, " said Metallix. " ROBO KNUX! "   
" Ah, smeg. " Void landed in the " At Dawn " section of the Highway. " Those two have gone postal! If I wasn't able to hold back the damage... "   
" ASIDE VOID! "   
Void sighed. " Oh great, the SSPD. Is it too much to hope that you'll spare the shooting and help rescue survivors? "   
The police sargent stepped forward. It was Bark, one of the Sonic the Fighters characters. " Look Void, we appreciate the help but it's our job to try and stop those mecha's before the Zone is levelled. "   
" Good luck. You'll need it. " 

Robo Knux punched Metallix in the optics, shattering the left side. Metallix countered with a death ray to the kneecap. Robo Knux growled.   
" B*****d! You think you can win?! I'll take you down and then your friend Amy is next! "   
" You WON'T hurt Amy. Or anyone EVER AGAIN! "   
Metallix's claws slashed down and removed a chunk of Robo Knux's armour! He then pointed his claws at some of the important circuits.   
" Megatel claws... right through your twisted circuits... Take this attack STRAIGHT TO HELL, you sickening piece of scrap! "   
SHHRIP.   
Metallix stood up. The deed was done. He could now get back to Knux's rally.   
But life isn't neat like that.   
" POLICE! FREEZE! " 

Amy stared up at Tails outstreched hand.   
" T-Tails... "   
She reached out from the darkness and grabbed hold of him.   
She began to cry again, holding onto the young kitsune as if he was the only thing in the world. " I don't wanna be like this! I don't wanna be some character no one remembers like that Bob Threadbare guy! I don't wanna- "   
" You won't Amy. I promise you that you won't. Whatever happens, I will be with you and make sure you're not forgotten! "   
Amy looked into his eyes and managed to smile. " Th-thank you. "   
And then, as if she was afraid of being stopped, she held onto him again and kissed him. 

" DAMN MUMMY! "   
Eternal grabbed onto Jack's razorblade hand and crushed it. Jack began to screama nd flop like a fish out of water that is slowly dying...   
" BACK OFF! "   
It was the GG's. They were back!   
" So... Now the waste comes to the janitor. You knwo you can't stop me. "   
" Oh yeah? "   
Mew jumped in and spraypainted into EC's eyes!   
" YAAAGH! "   
" Here it ends! " said Ayame. Her shruiken was raised once more...   
" In the name of Yuji Naka, in the name of all forgotten characters, in the name of Rose, LET THIS SHRUIKEN OF MY HEART DESTROY YOUR EVIL! "   
Another wave of shruikens struck EC and sent him staggering twoards the edge of the Egg Carrier...   
Tab's hand rose out of the water and grabbed EC's leg!   
" All right ya pikey! I'm going to make you pay for getting my 'do wet! "   
He pulled EC into the water, but not befor ethe EC was able to raise his fist...and deliver a bone-braejking punch RIGHT INTO TAB'S FACE.   
And with that, the hero and the corporate slave sanl beneath the waves.   
" TAB! " Combo stared down into the water, shock on his face. " Tab... "   
He rose and, with a solemn hand and eye, he sprayed Tab's tag onto the water and then onto the Egg Carrier's hull.   
" Rest in piece, man. "   


" He's OK right? He's just a little hurt, that's all... "   
" He's dead Sonic. Johnny's dead. "   
Sonic and Amy, Sonic the Comic 176. 

OK, character placement list: 

Silencer is in a gunfight with Gamma and Vectoman, while NiGHTS rests.   
Metallix and Bug have been arrested.   
Tails and Amy are in the Egg Carrier kissing.   
Sonic is in a hospital room with a broken leg, fuming that he is unable to help his freinds.   
Tikal and the Chao, along with Yuji, are in another part of the hospital.   
Tab and Robo Knux are dead. Unsure about EC.   
Garam, Mew, Combo, Gunrock, Jack and Ayame are also at the Egg Carrier, mourning over Tab.   
Beat, Gum, Yo-Yo, a Noise Tank, Falcon, Accel, Pride, Ryoma, Pete, Chaos and Knuckles are at Mystic Ruins.   
Void is in Station Square.   
Kenny was killed by some *******. 

Chaos turned to Knuckles and sighed. " No good, " he said, " the train won't get here for another hour. "   
" So we're stuck here with nothing to do? "   
" Well, yeah. "   
Knuckles snapped his fingers. " Maybe not! The Windey Valley has a Chaos Emerald in it; with that, we could heal up Sonic and get him in the fight! That executive guy wouldn't be able to stop us then! Not at the risk of killing a big moneymaker! "   
" We still don't know WHO the executive guy is! He could be ANY Sega guy! "   
" Then we'll look hard, " spoke up Falcon. " That's our duty; to look for wrongdoers and kick their arses! "   
" Brit's right! " said Gum. " We'll win! And hopefully sell the story to a book publisher! "   
" I want 10% royalties. " 

BOOM!   
Gamma blasted the gun right out of Silencer's hand! The merc swore and began to run.   
" He's escaping! " snarled NiGHTS.   
" Not for long, " said Vectorman. " Watch THIS! "   
A laser beam shot from his chest, hit the pavement in front of Silencer and made a hole. Obeying all laws of anime physics, the merc didn't notice until he fell into it.   
" Nice work V! "   
" Thanks NiGHTS! Now all we have to do is find Amy. "   
" While your fight was going on, I noticed a burst of light coming from the sea front, " said gamma. " I don't know what that means but we better check it out; it might be related to Amy and Tails. "   
NiGHTS began to fly off. " Bug might be able to help; I say I lock down on his mind, trace hima and then kick the arse of whoever goes after Amy next time! "   
" Bug? "   
" I'll explain later... "   


" What now? " asked Gunrock. " We beat that Eternal guy... but Tab's dead. And we still haven't found Amy! "   
Mew pinted at the sky with satisfaction. " Wouldn't be so sure. We didn't find Amy but look who did! "   
Hovering above them was Tails. And in his arms, looking happier than she'd ever done in Sonic CD or SA, was Amy. 

By the way, can someone give me the names of some Sega executives? Like the head of SoA, SoE, SoJ and that guy who " doesn't want Sonic to show emotions " so I know who to get people blaming when they see Sonic avoiding physical contact with Sally. I MUST KNOW THE NAME OF THAT (censored)! 

" You WHAT?! "   
Gamma and Vectorman tried to restrain NiGHTS before he hit the policemen. The cop just sighed.   
" Look, we had a report that Bug was involved in terrorist activities. "   
" So you arrested him and Metallix. "   
" So? That Mecha WAS involved in a fight that's caused $4,000,000 of damage! Plus, he destroyed that Robo Knux guy. "   
" OK, but BUG?! " NiGHTS slammed his hand down on the desk. " He's just a forgotten character from the Sega Saturn; who's he gonna hurt? "   
" We think he's involved with that Eternal Champion attack and the attempted murders of a Amy Rose and Miles Prower. "   
" WHAAAAAAAT?! That's complete- "   
And then he realised. The executive behind this wanted more than just two characters dead. So if he could blame the assassination on other ' wastes ' then they could end up with the death penalty...   
" Damn... I've gotta find Amy and Tails! "   
" At least we took down Silencer, " said Vectorman. " the police KNOW he's bad news; Adminastrator-guy can't frame us after that! "   
" yeah. But they framed Bug. "   
" We must meet up with the others, " said Gamma. " Together we stand a better chance at finding out who's behind this. And WHY. "   
" They are doing it because they are a sick and twisted b*****d, Gamma. "   
The robots grew silent. They knew better than to provoke NiGHTS when he was like this. 

Picture vast fields floating in the sky. Picture a a bright purple glow in teh dentre. Now picture a red echidna running dwon a long twisty pathway.   
Knuckles got to the Zone centre and paused to throw up. " Man, how did Sonic and Tails handle those loops? I never even ate this much... "   
Putting his regertitation problems aside, Knuckles went over and grabbed the purple Chaos Emerald.   
" Got it... Now to get down and get this to Sonic. Hope the others are OK. " 

" I didn't know you'd brought friends with you, Tails. "   
" Knuckles organised them to take down the executive behind all these attacks. There's some others but they're not here right now. "   
" What about NiGHTS and Vectorman? "   
Tails tried to scratch his head; a minor feat when his hands were full of teenage hedgehog. " No idea. I was more concerned with finding you. "   
Amy grinned and kissed him on the neck, causing him to go to shades of red taht Knuckles would apprieciate.   
" Aww...my kitsuen in shining armour... "   
" Uhh... The others are staring... "   
" Ah, you're embarrased about it in public? You certainly weren't this nervous back there inside the Egg Carrier... "   
Now he was red enough to seem as if he'd become Archie's Turbo Tails. 

(No, I'm not implying that they had sex; just that they shared an intimate movement (they smooched a lot). After all, Knuckles has Tikal here so why shouldn't Tails have Amy and vice versa?)   
------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Tei Sama 

"Look, sorry to brake up the tender moment, but we...suffered a loss," Combo murmured. 

He recapped the events that had occured since Tails went to find Amy. 

"Tab'll be back," Tails muttered, winking. "Amy! You still friends with that bird from SA?" 

"Wha--yes..." Amy said. It dawned on her. 

"Somebody get Big the Cat on the phone!" Tails belted the order out. "Amy! Come on, we'll go get your birdie pal." 

------- 

"They thought I was a terrorist and put me here," Bug explained to Gamma. 

"We know this," Gamma said. 

"Where are NiGHTS and Vectorman?" Metallix asked. 

"They went to the Mystic Ruins to find Knuckles and his revolutionists," Gamma explained, sitting down on a dingy bench outside of the prison cells. "I came here of my own free will to know if there was any information you should tell me." 

Metallix snorted. "We know as much as you. Go find the others. We'll be out of here shortly." 

-------- 

"Hey guys," Big said. He parked his jet ski at the edge of the Egg Carrier, and jumped out, Froggy on his shoulder. Amy's birdie was with them. "You needed a favor?" 

"Big, you've got the best water skills of any of us furries," Tails said. "We need you to go down there and get something for us." 

"What would it be?" Big asked. Despite his roll in Sonic Adventure, Big was actually fairly intelligent. His size and voice could throw you off if you weren't expecting it. 

"Well, erm..." Tails coughed uncomfortably. "We need you to pick up Tab's body." 

After Big was done vomiting in the water, he said, "why? What happened?" 

Again, Combo recapped what happened. So with that, Big plunged into the water and sank. After many tried, he emerged with Tab's body, and hauled it onto the deck. Tails looked at Amy, who nodded, and took the Chaos Emerald from the Bird's pendant. Bathing Tab's body with the Emerald's Holy Light, Amy muttered a prayer. 

Tab suddenly jumped, and began coughing. He was alive again!!! 

"Wha' happuned?" He asked, cracking his nose. 

"You were killed," Tails said simply. "Now, come on--I have a feeling the otjers are at the mistic ruins..." 

"Knux! Heyo, Knux!" Combo shouted as the boat approached the Mystic Ruins dock. Knux turned to see the Egg Carrier team coming their way--with Amy safe and sound. 

"Tails! Amy!" Knux cried. "You're okay!" 

Everybody piled onto the dock then onto the ground, and the story on the Egg Carrier was recapped. Knux nodded. 

"Okay. The stakes have been upped...with the one I got in the Windy Valley, and the two you got from Birdie and Froggie, there's a slight chance that whoever's after us is going to get the other four." 

"Why did you get the WV Emerald?" Tails asked, tilting his head in puzzlement. 

"We need Sonic to help us," Knux explained. "He's Sega's franchise, and if he can help us out, we'll be set..." 

Just then, NiGHTS and Vectorman landed in the group. 

"NiGHTS! Vecty!" Amy cried. "What are you doing here? Where's Gamma?" 

"We were handing the Silencer in Station Square," NiGHTS breathed. "Metallix and Bug have been arrested. Gamma went to see them to find information." 

"WHAT??" The three anthromorphs cried. 

"Metallix was fighting hard with Mecha-Knux all through Speed Highway, and they destroyed a lot of that. Metallix won, but got thrown in the slammer for causing the damage. And then Bug got arrested for being framed as a terrorist." 

"What about Void?" 

"He was with Metallix last we checked..." 

"I'm here now," Void said, popping out of a Void Warp. "Metallix and Bug are allright, and Gamma is on his way. We're almost ready." 

"Hold on," Knux said. "What about Sonic?" 

"Come with me, Knuckles, I'll take you to him." Void jumped back into the Void Warp, and Knuckles followed. Void's voice said, "you're in charge, Tails! Just make sure nobody gets hurt!" 

Then the Void Warp closed. 

Razorback Jack 

The executive walked out of the secluded room, making sure no one saw him. But he was clearly going out for a purpose...but what? 

He was a thin, geeky looking man, probably in his thirties. His face, while not very distinctive, could be recognized by just about anyone. His glasses and brown hair offset his corporate attire, making it clear who this man was. 

His name: William Gates the Third, CEO of Microsoft. 

He straightened his tie and went outside. He was greeted by two security guards, clad in outfits resembling those of a paramilitary organization. Gates flashed the two a card with a symbol of an eye within a glowing pyramid, and they went off without further questioning. 

Gates was soon greeted by a familiar face, in the form of one of his business associates. 

"Hello, Mr. DeBeers." 

"Good evening, Mr. Gates. I trust that the, erm, waste disposal project is going as planned?" 

At that, Gates sullied. "No," he said. "Nothing's going right. It almost reminds me of when we were programming Win 95." 

"No one cares if it didn't do as we had hoped, Bill." Lucius Debeers pulled out a cigar and placed it in his mouth. He then pulled out his lighter, and after a few clicks, a small flame sprouted from the tip. He lit the cigar, and took a few puffs before taking it out. "Hell, look how I am right now." 

"Maybe so, Lucius..." Gates wafted away the fumes of the cigar as he talked. "But I have a doubt. If this fails, we may lose our bid for Japan. Even if the BA Project goes as planned, we..." 

"The Bloodshot Assassin Project will go ahead as we intended, Bill. We have our own priorities to worry about..." 

Gates just sighed, and nodded. He and DeBeers walked along a darkened path, towards a door emblazoned with the same eye-within-pyramid logo as Gates' card. 

DeBeers inserted his own card, of a silver color, into the slot that seemed to denote where something should be inserted. The door slid open with a hiss, revealing a massive chamber, not unlike a cathedral. 

As Gates and DeBeers entered, Gates was struck by the sheer size of the place. 

"You know," he started, a bit awed. "Every time I walk into this place...do you get that feeling?" 

"No...but then again, it would make sense. We are the Illuminati, not some kind of crackpot organization." 

"Like Majestic-12?" 

"Precisely." 

As the two entered the Illuminati Headquarters, many darker things were afoot in the world of Sega... 

Tei Sama 

"Damnit! Let us out!" Metallix yelled, rattling the bars of his cell. 

"Forget it, punk," Captain Onishima said, barking a laugh. (Yeah, yeah...Onishima is from Jet Grind Radio also, but I figured this role was fitting for him ^.~) "You're staying there." 

"Then at least let Bug out!!!" Metallix yelled. "He's INNOCENT, damn you!" 

"Calm down, Metal," Bug said evenly. "Our time to act will come..." 

----- 

Tei Sama 

Void and Knuckles popped out of the Void Warp in Sonic's hospital room. 

"Knux! Void!" Sonic cried. "What're you two doing here??" 

"We need your help," Knux said. "We need you to lead us, to be the figurehead for the revolution." 

Sonic snorted, and closed his eyes. "Not with this broken leg of mine. You do it." 

"Wha--me??" Knux cried. "It's a miracle I got so many Sega characters together...Tails did most of it!!" 

"Then have TAILS lead." 

"He's not used to the stress." 

"Amy." 

"You fool! You didn't even know where she was! You still don't!" Knux growled. "You don't even realize that, until earlier today, that girl looked up to you as a hero. Tough crap now, Tails saved her life, and now the two are nearly inseperable. Him, the GG's and some of the Powerstone 2 guys found her on the Egg Carrier, somebody had injected her with some kind of depressant. You missed out on your chance to be a hero to that girl. You owe her and the rest of us to be the leader." 

Sonic snorted again. "Still, I can't...my leg..." 

Knuckles pulled the Emerald out at this point. Sonic's eyes opened, then widened, suddenly. 

"A Chaos Emerald..." He whispered. A beam of light shot from the Emerald, onto Sonic's cast. The cast disapeared, and Sonic stretched his leg. It was healed. 

"Well?" Void asked, tapping his foot on the floor. "Are we going, or what?" 

"Hold on." Sonic put on his sneakers, and hopped off the bed. "Now we're going." 

The three hopped back into the Void Warp.   
--------   
When they got back to Mystic Ruins, the place was teeming with Sega characters...the newest were the four Crazy Taxi characters, BD Joe, Axel, Gus and Gina. Gamma had arrived, as well. 

"Sonic!!" Tails and Amy called out. The two young anthromorphs walked over to Sonic, Knux and Void. 

"Hey, you're okay! ^^" Tails said, flashing a thumbs-up. 

"Yeah, thanks to the power of the Chaos Emerald," Sonic said, nodding. 

Chaos walked up to them at that point. 

"A Chaos Emerald." He murmured. "If I absorbed the three we have, then I could go to Chaos 3 form, and be a better help..." 

"Here, just take it." Knux snorted, passing his Emerald to Chaos, who absorbed it and transformed to Chaos 1. 

"Okay, everybody!" Sonic yelled. All heads turned to the hedgehog, stunned into silence. "Does anybody have ANY clue who the exec is that attacked Naka-sama?" 

Nobody spoke up. 

Sonic sighed. "Then the best thing we can do is FIND OUT. Split up, and get as much info as possible!!"   
------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Charles RB 

Knuckles, Chaos, Mew and Void teleported into the centre of Station Square. There, in all its glory, stood a museum dedicated to Sega and other video gameing greats.   
" I can't believe they wasted money on THAT! "   
" It's a symbol, Mew, " said Knuckles. " This city is pretty much MADE by Sega for old characters and gaming scenes; the residents felt they should honour them for it. "   
" Whatever... "   
Void sighed and shook his head. " I don't see why we are here. If I was the executive, I would've destroyed anything incriminating here. And we aren't even sure this place actually HAS any information. It's a strategical foul-up. "   
" It's worth a shot. "   
" True... I jusrt can't help but think that the others will have more luck at winning. " 

Team 2: Vectorman, Falcon, Pete, Tab, Ayame. 

Vectorman looked over the Egg Carrier again and again, while the others rummaged through old computer files.   
" This is where Amy ended up,and know someone tried to destroy her here. There's GOT to be a clue or something! "   
" Yeah? This place is just sooo un-phat! " That was Tab, tagging a computer screen.   
" Shut up, " said Falcon. " At the very least we'll find out WHO was here. If it's merely an agent, then we have a good chance of- "   
He paused and gasped. Vectorman knew that sound from his shoot-em-up days: it wa sthe sound of people who see something shocking, just before it strikes you down.   
" What is it? "   
" I've found something! The Egg Carrier security system still works...and I've got a video file of who injected Amy! It-it was... "   
He didn't need to say. It was on the screen in front of them, though they wished it weren't so.   
It was Jack. 

Tei Sama 

Team 3: Tails, Amy, Beat, Garam and Jack, to Angel Island, which is in the same position it was in during SA. 

"We have three zones to explore here," Tails said, leading the group. "Hidden Palace Zone, Ice Cap Zone, and Red Mountain Zone. Garam, Beat, can you take Ice Cap and Hidden Palace?" 

"You bet," Garam said. "What about the rest o' you?" 

"Red Mountain is the most dangerous, so we'll be going there together." Tails said. "Understood?" 

"Got it," Garam nodded. 

----- 

In Red Mountain, outside the volcano... 

"Hmm." Tails looked around, estimating where they would find the information they needed. He had only been through here once, with Sonic once the player beat Sonic's file. But he knew it well enough. This was around where Knux started the level...they were on the spiral walkway around the center mountain. 

"What's our first move, Tails-chan?" Amy asked, leaning over Tails' shoulder. 

"whatever we'd need to find out would be inside the mountain..." the young kitsune turned to look at Jack--but the mummy had disapeared. "Where'd that guy go??" 

"Behind you, fox!" jack screeched, slashing at Tails. Tails jumped foreward, pulling Amy with him, avoiding the blade by a breath's width. 

Tails whirled, but Jack kicked him in the head, sending him sprawling. 

"Unh!" Tails grunted. He pushed himself up weakly, and charged jack, but Jack knocked him back again. He grabbed Amy by her dreadlocks, and tugged. She cried out, and tried to hit Jack with her hammer. He knocked it out of her grasp, and placed a knife to her throat. 

"Now, now, don't fight," Jack hissed. "If you struggle, my hand might slip, and the metal will peirce the tender flesh of your neck. We wouldn't want that, would we?" 

"Why, Jack?" Amy gasped. "You were one of us...Why did you turn on us?" 

"Don't you understand?" Jack said. "I don't take anybody's side but mine. I can, however, be bought out. I'll be a hired gun for anybody who offers me the most blood to be shed." 

"But you're only here to kill me," Amy said. 

"That's one more than what I would have gotten if I sided with you," Jack said, following with a cackle. 

"Stuff it, man!" Somebody shouted. Beat and Garam jumped in, tackling Jack down! 

"Beat! Garam!" Tails cried, standing up at last. The two anthromorphs and the two Rudies stood in a line, ready to go at Jack. 

"Damn!" Jack muttered. He jumped away from the walkway, disapearing into the haze below. "I'll be back, vermin!!! Heeheehee!!!" 

Charles RB 

" Jack has fled. "   
Gates took a sip at his martini. " True, true... He'll be back. He'd kill himself if he thought it would be fun. After all, I saw what wish he used the Powerstone for... An assassin like THAT is cleraly better than your choice of Silencer. "   
" Gates, he got beaten by street punks! At least Silencer was up against REAL targets! "   
Gates pushed his glasses up and smirked. " The point's rather mute now. We've already got a Sega director working for us through useful mind-confusing techniques and we've disposed of said agent, to avoid anything incriminating. We've framed Bug and Metallix, and many others are suspected to be guilty as well. We nearly got Amy. "   
DeBeer's snorted. " Key word being NEARLY. Our plans are dependent on this mission! Amy and the others are characters thousands of people care about. They have fanfics, fanart, video games... The lot. Take them down and the fans will become upset, depressed and they will loss their creative edge. That is the precise mood people need to be in to suppot dictatorial regimes. It nearly worked with Endgame but Sega reversed the decision! Because of that, we're having to think bigger. "   
" Enough explanitary diolouge! This plan is taking too long; I say we increase our effects. "   
DeBeeer's grinned. " Of course. All we need to do is get Sonic, Amy, Tails, NiGHTS and about two of teh others in one place. Then we send out our best agents... And dispose of them. Permanent. " 

Alex Warlorn 

"NO~! Sonikku Hedgehog must not be tirminated. He is too vanuable to us as a brand icon in the long run." 

Razor Back Jack 

DeBeers merely smirked at Gates' outburst. "Relax, Bill...there's really nothing we can do with Sonic. Besides, I was just fibbing a bit...the intention is not to KILL him...but to keep him 'in storage.'" 

Gates thought for a moment, then noded in agreement. DeBeers smiled again. "So nice of you to be so understanding, Bill...you'll go far in the Illuminati, that I know..." 

At around this time, two uniformed Illuminati soldiers came walking in. "Sir!" they tersely shouted, heels clicking, their hands thrown up in salute. 

"What is it now?" 

"It's MJ12, sir. They're moving in on EC." 

DeBeers dropped his martini glass. It shattered around the time he responded. 

"What...did you say?" 

"Majestic-12 is moving in on the Eternal Champion, sir. They may be trying to tell him the truth." 

DeBeers slammed his fist into the table. "Damn those b@stards!" He then calmed and coarsely addressed Gates. "We're going to have to push ahead on the BA Project. Notify your staff, we're increasing the shifts from 8 hours to 12. I want Unit 01 operational within the month!" 

Gates gulped slightly as DeBeers exited the room, accompanied by the two guards. "Lucius," he said to himself, an indiscernable note of fear in his voice. "This might be the death of us..." He then stood up, leaving his own martini glass untouched, and then calmly walked off... 

End Page Three of Four 

Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome. Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too.   
  


	4. Time To Dance

You know the drill, I only compiled this thing. I was one of many writers. 

BACK NEAR THE MYSTIC RUINS TRAIN STATION   
-------   
"Hey!" Chaos shouted, once the Angel Island team came out from the windy tunnel. "You're back! Where's Jack?" 

"Jack's with the enemy," Tails muttered darkly. "EVERYBODY: Jack was a traitor. If you see him, you have to kill him, understand??" 

"What?" Gus yelled. "Whaddaya mean, kid?" 

"Jack is with whoever hurt Naka-san," Tails said. "If you see him, you need to kill him, before he can kill us." 

Tails walked away from the crowd, pinching his sinuses. Great, he thought. A migraine. I just don't think I can handle the whole leadership thing... 

A set of arms wrapped themselves around Tails' neck. Startled, Tails looked up to see Amy standing behind him, her eyes closed, a blissful look on her face. 

"You're so brave, Tails," Amy whispered into his ear. "The way you tried to fight Jack for me...the way you're taking charge of these men...it just makes me love you that much more." 

Tails closed his eyes, too. "We're only thirteen, you know..." 

"So what?" Amy asked, pecking Tails on the cheek. "That shouldn't mean a thing..." 

" It doesn't in most cases but I'd rather not...er, you know... "   
Amy sighed. " I know, I know... " Suddenly an evil look came into her eyes. " But I can do THIS! "   
Grabbing him, she began to kiss him. The two of them kept kissing, not knowing or caring that everyone else could see.   
Sonic whistled. " Don't they need to breathe?" 

"On the other hand, now I don't need to worry about her chasing after me. I have enough girl friends as it is. . . ." Sonic commented. 

Void gave him a beady eye. " Name one. And Archie ones don't count because they're not in OUR world. "   
Sonic began to speak, paused and then took a VERY deep interest in the ground. 

" They are together. It is a perfect tiem to strike. "   
" What about Eternal Champion? "   
" Don't worry Gates. By the time he finds out the truth, we'll have the targets right where we want them. And then... we dispose of him. " 

"Not archie?" Sonic asked.   
"That's right." Replied Void.   
Sonic took a deep breath.   
"Sally from Saterday Morning, Sara from Sonic anima, that hedghog girl that was going to be in Sonic X-Stream, that nut case fan girl from Adventures of Sonic the Hedghog, and plus all those fan fics where Tails is a girl."   
"All of which don't count as they're NOT from OUR universe. And show me ONE piece of evidence that shows the X-Treme person was a love interest! "   
" Man, will you STOP embarrasing me in front of Knuckles and the others? " 

Knuckles made like he was gonna hurl, and turned away from Tails and Amy, shaking his head. "Get a room, guys..." 

Neither young 'morph made a move or gesture to acknowlege Rad Red's presence. Sighing, Knux turned to Sonic and Void. 

"We need to get to stepping. We're all just standing around here, for God's sake!" Knuckles turned to eye Sonic. "Like those dummy versions of us in Sonic Adventure. The ones where all they did was stand in one place, like, before a fight, or when particular characters' story lines crossed over during gameplay." 

Sonic whistled, and looked away from Knuckles. "SOMEbody plays too many video games." 

"Look, that's not the point," Knuckles pointed out. "Get your troops together, True Blue. We need to get back at whoever's doing this, and now." 

SCHEE-KOW!! 

"What?!" Knux yelped. A smoldering crater about two feet in diameter appeared right behind him. Heads turned, to see Eternal Champion standing on top of the thatched roof of the train station, Jack cackling insanely beside him. 

"It's time to finish what we started before, kiddies," Eternal Champion growled, turning to look at Tab. He pointed a finger at him, the fingertip glowing... 

"Watch it, kid!" Big yelled, pushing Tab down. Another smouldering crater appeared where Tab had been standing a split-second before. 

"That guy means business," Falcon said. "Gunrock! Ayame! The ol' one-two-three!" 

"Right!" Ayame and Gunrock shouted. They jumped, Ayame hurling a cluster of surikens, Gunrock hurling a boulder, and Falcon shooting off a missile. Eternal Champion and Jack jumped, avoiding all three attacks, landing on the ground. A yellow blur, and a Taxi sped into both of them, crashing through the wooden train station. The taxi plummeted into the water, but the two enemies were nowhere to be seen. 

"Rest in Peace, my wonderful taxi," BD Joe said, smirking anyway. 

"What did you do?" Tails asked. He and Amy had stopped sucking face when they heard the first shot go off. 

"I stole dis fugly stick from some weird cop in Station Square. Den I used it to keep the gas pedal down on my cab." 

"Okay..." Tails shook his head. "What about Jack and Eternal Champion?" 

"Not dead yet, kiddies," Jack hissed. he crawled back up the side of the trainstation using his daggers. Eternal Champion simply flew next to him. 

"We're ending this. NOW." Eternal Champion growled. 

EC was about to power up another finger blast, but the roar of aircrafts overhead was appearant... 

Every head turned again, this time to the sky. several jet planes were flying overhead, dropping men in black suits, holding assault rifles, down to the ground. 

"What the hell!?" EC demanded. "What's going on?!" 

"These are the Illumnati," Jack hissed gleefully. "They've come to kill the resistance, and take Sonic back to Mr. Gates and Mr. DeBeers!" 

"Gates and DeBeers...?" EC muttered. The fight had already begun. The guns the Illumnati fighters had brought were useless in close-quarters combat, they couldn't risk shooting their own men. This gave the Sega characters a definite edge. 

Knux busted the jaw of one Illumnati, then whirled around to kick another in the gut. Mew and Tab spraypainted the eyes of another pair of soldiers, while Combo busted some heads. NiGHTS, Vectorman and Gamma stood back-to-back, fighting of any approaching soldiers. BD Joe used another 'fugly stick' to beat off some of the enemy. Tails and Amy fought side-by side, Big bashed his fishing rod over some poor guy's head, Falcon focused his anger and betrayed feelings on Jack, the other powerstone fighters kicking the asses of the other soldiers, Sonic buzzsawed through the crowd, trying to take down any soldiers he could, Void and Chaos using their best attacks to fight, it was PURE HAVOC. 

"I was double-crossed." EC hissed. He jumped into the air, and zoomed off into the distance. 

--------------------------------------------- 

"They won't be able to win alone," DeBeers muttered, pounding his fist on the cool, marble counter. "SEND IN THE SECRET WEAPON! ISOLATE THE MOST THREATENING OF THE BUNCH, AND TAKE ROSE WITH THEM!" 

--------------------------------------------- 

The battle raged on for almost an hour without interruption. But then... 

"What the--?" Tails cursed, a large shadow falling over the fight, eclipsing the sun. It was large, but that's all Tails could make out about it. 

"That's the Illumnati's secret weapon," Jack cackled. Falcon punched him in the head, sending him at Tails, who back-flip kicked Jack in the jaw. 

The machine seemed to glow, whatever it was...five beams of light shot out. Each light struck a Sega character...Tails, Amy, Sonic, NiGHTS, Vectorman. 

"What's going on??" Sonic cried. He vanished. So did the other four. 

--------------------------------------------- 

Amy groaned, and opened her eyes slowly. Pushing herself to her feet, she looked around...there was nothing but darkness. 

"Tails-chan!! NiGHTS!!" Amy called. Her voice echoed back to her, but there was no other responce. 

"Nobody will hear you..." an evil voice seethed. Amy whirled, to see that she was facing a full-body mirror. Some kind of light was hanging above it...the only thing Amy saw was her own reflection. Amy leaned closer to the mirror, examining it carefully...so naturally, she was caught off-guard when her reflection reached out of the mirror and began to strangle her. 

--------------------------------------------- 

"Yah!" Tails cried, flipping his evil reflection-self over him with his feet. The two kitsunes were up quickly, and duking it out again. 

"Who ARE you??" Tails demanded. 

"I'm you, of course!" The reflection answered back. Tails saw clearly that this kitsune could very well be his genetic double...except that his eyes were slate-gray, instead of sky blue. 

the reflection punched Tails in the gut, then sent him flying deeper into the darkness. 

--------------------------------------------- 

NiGHTS, Vectorman, Sonic, all five of them were caught in a deathlock with their own evil reflections. 

"What's going on?" NiGHTS demanded of his reflection. 

"Can't you tell?" his grey-eyed counterpart shot. "We're an incarnation of the evil that resides in EVERY being! This is the final battle do decide which will prevail, good or evil, light or dark!! HAHAHA!" 

Sonic of course, was fighting Shadow.   
"Come off it!" Sonic hissed giving his twin a head based that sent them both on their backs. "I'm sick of hearing how there's evil in everyone. The only evil that exists within us all is the darkness we ALLOW to enter us. We have free will. THe only darkness in us is the stuff we put there. Good and evil don't exist as a balance. That is change quaote unquaote 'chaos' and stagnation, quaote unquaote 'order's' department. Good and evil are opposing forces, each trying ever so hard to over come to the other. It's free will that decides which wins!" 

"Hah! Hah!" Amy grunted, blocking her reflection's hammer with her own. The fight was going nowhere fast, but Amy was getting tired, and the reflection showed no signs of fatigue. 

'This gets more and more hopeless the longer I fight,' Amy thought bitterly. Tears began to run down her face, tears of anguish, hatred, and utterly, deep down inside, defeat. 

"I could never beat the system," Amy said, cursing. "I was doomed right from the start--unh!--ever since Sega stuck me with such crap levels in Sonic Adventure. Right from there, I was screwed. I've been blacklisted. Unh! Tails and I are in the same boat...we have a very dim future..." 

Suddenly, a fire lit up inside of her. 

"...but we have each other. We don't need Sega, Nintendo, Sony, Sonic, Knuckles, Eggman...While it's great to have friends, when you're left for dead, all you have left is EACH OTHER. And I'm going to escape with my Tails-chan. ALIVE. And we'll live together, like Vectorman, NiGHTS, Gamma, Big...**but we won't be ALONE!!"******

Amy pushed her reflection back, then charged her with her hammer over her shoulder. She jumped into the air, and brought the hammer down onto her reflection's head--crushing her skull. 

The darkness around Amy faded into a soft light. She was shocked to see that all around her, her friends were fighting their reflections--Tails, NiGHTS, Vectorman, Sonic. They were appearantly still in the darkness like she had been moments before. She looked around for her reflection's body, but it was gone...it had only been an illusion. 

With a scream, Amy ran at Tails and his reflection. She could tell in her heart which was the real one and which was not--not to mention that the real one was cut, bloody, panting, exhausted, and the other seemed fine. The same with Amy and her reflection. 

Aiming the blow just right, Amy decapitated the Tails reflection. Tails shook his head, emerging from his own darkness. 

"Amy-chan," he whispered, looking at NiGHTS, Sonic, and Vectorman. 

"They'll be harder to fight than ours were," Amy said. "They're stronger than us." 

Tails nodded. "We'll do it," He muttered. 

"And I DECIDE Shadow, that your history!" Screamed Sonic diving at his copy which had been expsecting Sonic to lose his cool in that matter, since when was Sonic anything but the 'cool dude' on the block? 

" Oh please, Sonic! You think you can win? I'm darkness, and in the end, darkness will be all that's left in the world! "   
Sonic pulled back his fist. " Ah, true. But you're not darkness, you're just a hedgehog that REALLY needs a bath! "   
THWACK   
Shadow fell to the ground, KOed. Around him, Vectorman and NiGHTS were destroying their evil sides. Sonic noted with embarrasment that Amy had won first.   
_ Man, I think I spent too much battle time being philosophical! _   
" That was tough, " panted Tails. " Nearly died there! "   
" But we DIDN'T, " said Amy. " And if THAT is all those Illuminati guys can throw at us, then this battle's gonna be a piece of cake! "   


" They beat the darkness from within them. "   
" And so a $5,000,000 project goes to waste. ****! "   
" Ah, but we can still beat them. Send in Jack. Get him to isolate Amy from the others; then we can use the depression drug on her again. "   
" She beat the last one. "   
" That was because of the kitsune. Alone, she is weak. "   
" And together, we are strong. "   
" And how come we're just sitting here talking in sinister voices instead of doing it? "   
" Hmmm...good point. " 

Meanwhile, Microsoft's Fighting Legands warriors were getting a final visit from the eturnal champion. One tried to cut him with a blade, it sliced the komoto he was wearing in half, but being a life form of pure ki, it did himself no harm. He then blasted him away with a white star blast.   
_____________   
Amy stood up looking proudly at the setting sun. She had lived another day.   
------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Sonic groaned. "Come on, Tails, let's finish those guys off..." 

"Right," Tails nodded. He and Sonic went to help Vecty and NiGHTS, but something drew Amy away from it all... 

She found herself standing in a singular room. Nobody was there. There were four walls, a ceiling, a floor, all plastered gray. In the room was a single pedastle, and on the pedastle was some kind of manuscript under a glass case....Amy began to read it. 

"Our job is to wipe out all the used up characters. We will stop at nothing to complete our mission, this slip of paper is our bond to that word." 

"This is what controls it all, huh?" Amy asked quietly. "This is what's been putting me through hell and back since the first page, this has been what almost took me and my friends' life??" 

Snorting, Amy smashed the glass case with her hammer. She took the slip of paper in her hands, examining it carefully. Then, satisfied that there was nothing left, she ripped the paper in two. 

--------------------------------------------- 

The Illumnati soldiers on the ground shimmered, and disapeared. Jack did as well. 

"What the--?!" Knuckles cried. "Where'd they go?" 

The shadow hovering over them all disapeared, too...NiGHTS, Vecty, Sonic and Tails appeared back on the ground. 

"Where's Amy?" Knuckles asked, running up to the four. 

"She was with us before, but we got seperated!" Sonic cried. 

"There she is!" Axel cried, pointing up. "She looks like she's...fighting..." 

--------------------------------------------- 

"This is it!" Amy shouted, pointing her hammer at the...being...in front of her. It was nothing but an energy beast. "You're the essence behind it all! I'll kill you if I have to!" 

Amy and the beast were just hovering in the air. Nothing was keeping them aloft except for the beast's power... 

"You wretched child! You have nothing! You ARE nothing!" The beast screamed.   
------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Ack!" Amy cried as the beast hit her in the jaw. she flew backwards, and crashed into Angel Island, and began to fall. 

"I'm coming, Amy-chan!" Tails cried. He flew, catching Amy in his arms, and slowly set her on the ground. 

Amy stood up weakly, and pushed Tails back. The energy beast landed in front of her. The Sega characters formed a ring around the two, keeping them in. 

"I hafta fight this on my own," Amy said, pulling out her Long Hammer this time. "I don't need any help--I want to beat this monster by myself!" 

"Just believe in yourself," Tails muttered under his breath. 

Amy jumped at the energy beast, and swung down with all her might. The hammer passed through the beast, like it was nothing!! The beast swiped with a paw, slapping Amy down again. She whimpered, and pushed herself up slowly. The beast approached slowly, and knocked her down again! 

"Ugh..." Amy spat blood, coughed a couple times, and again pushed herself up. Blood was streaming down the side of her face. 

"Amy!" Sonic called out. Amy glanced up...Sonic held four chaos Emeralds in his hands! 

"How did you--?" Amy asked, eyes wide. 

"Void got them all for us while we were locked inside that thing. Just TAKE THEM!" Sonic threw the emeralds to Amy. She caught them all. Chaos, next, drained the three Emeralds from his body, and tossed them to Amy as well. Tails ran up to her, and placed fifty rings on top of the emerald pile, and backed away. 

There was a large flash of light. Amy stood, her pink fur turned gold, her eyes red. Her quills curled upward, and her body was surrounded by gold flames. 

"Super Amy," Knuckles nodded. 

"Rrrrrrrrr-YAAAAH!!!" Super Amy screamed. she swung her hammer in a wide ark, this time it hit the beast, sending it flying into the mountainside. Super Amy leapt, and brought the hammer down on the beasts' head--crushing its skull. 

The beast shimmered, and disapeared. Super Amy sighed, and powered down. The seven Emeralds split up, and went back to the places they had started at. 

"It's over," Amy said, looking up to the sky. "Finally...it's over." 

Amy's power aura went out like a light, her fur and hair turned back to it's orginal color, (abit longer than before) and as her eyes chanced back as well, but they wern't her normal planet green eyes, they were like Sonic's: emerald.   
She landed on the concerte out like a light.   
Sonic pushed Tails out of the way to check on Amy himself. She was breathing, and her heart was beating. Thank God.   
"Stupid . . . stupid . . ." Sonic whispered.   
"Huh?" Said Tails confused.   
"Tails, I've gone super more times than anyone, and using the emeralds have side effects, my eyes turning from brown to green, along with the incressed length of my quills are just the phyical ones. I STC super Sonic is evil, it was there way of doing the price of power. But the real price is just as bad. Every time I go super, I run the risk of having a heart attack. So do you and Knuckles."   
"WHAT?"   
"The mortal body was never meant to be pushed to such exterms! It's like putting explovie shell from a battle ship in an old fashioned cannon! I did this because knew she would be killed if she didn't use them. But still, there was a risk, epsically the first time."   
DeBeer's was dead.   
He had tried to use all the mystical energy of the Illuminati to defeat the enemy. Instead, he had been beaten and his mind had bene destroyed.   
Gates stared at the corpse with anger. " You idiot. Your trick failed an dnow we are leaderless. And worse... "   
He gestured to the runis of the Illuminati base. The walls had been shattered, the computers had explode and burnt, and now the remains of the once-mighty cult were gaping open for the world to see.   
" Centuries of work, wiped out in seconds! We are finished! "   
Gates spat at the corpse and walked off.   
_ Amy was stronger than we thought. Obviously we had been stupid in thinking we could defeat such popualr icons; they had hidden strength we could only ahve dreamed off!   
_ No matter. Doesn't concern me. I'm just a businessman. All Ihave to do is get away before that idiot Onishima gets here and take my place at Microsoft. And that will be that. Neat. No loose ends... _   


Amy lay in the hospital bed, her eys closed, Tails at her side. The doctors said she'd be awake in a few days. Ironically, they'd placed her next to the unconscious Yuji Naka.   
Tails held her hand tightly and kissed her lightly on the forehead.   
" Get well soon, Amy. "   
he stood up and left to tidy up her home for WHEN she got better.   
Amy just lay there, dreaming. Dreams thatw ere calmer and happier tha those of just two days ago. In the space of two days, she'd found out that she wasn't worthless. After just two days, she'd made friends and a lover.   
After juts two days, she no longer had tears. 

FIN   


" I didn't want you to get the idea that heroism was a man with a gun. "   
Atticus: To Kill a Mockingbird 

The sequel to this is being writting right now at tsfmb.sonicfoundation.org . . . feel free to join in. 


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